Wole Soyinka berates Jonathan, describes him as worse than Nebuchadnezzar

Prof. Wole Soyinka, eminent Nobel Laureate, has said President Goodluck Jonathan is worse than Nebuchadnezzar, the Biblical neo-Babylonian king.

In a speech titled, “King Nebuchadnezzar – The Reign of Impunity” read by Soyinka at the Freedom Park in Lagos, Nigeria, e expressed the view that as worse as the reign of Nebuchadnezzar was as recorded in the Holy Bible, he was a nation builder and a warrior.

He said, “I shall not insist that the historical/biblical figure of Nebuchadnezzar is uniquely apt for the pivotal figure of the ‘democratic’ history in the making at this moment – for one thing, Nebuchadnezzar was a nation builder and a warrior.

“One could argue even more convincingly for the figure of Balthazar, his successor, or indeed Emperor Nero as reference point – you all remember him – the emperor who took to fiddling while Rome was burning. However you should easily recall why I opted for King Nebuchadnezzar – the figure that currently sits on the top of our political pile himself evoked it, albeit in a context that virtuously disclaimed any similarities, even tendencies.

“The act of scaling gates and walls to fulfil their duty by the people must be set down as their finest hour. They must be applauded, not derided. If shame belongs anywhere, it belongs to the Inspector General of Police and his lavish adherence to illegal and unconstitutional instructions – to undermine a democratic structure, and one (to make matters worse) convoked in response to an emergency of dire concern.

“What sticks to this policeman (Abba) is worse than shame, it is infamy. Such a public servant deserves to be publicly pilloried, tried and meted a punishment that is appropriate to treasonable acts, if only to serve as a deterrent to others in positions of responsibility under the law. To demand less is to reduce ourselves below the status of free citizens of a free nation.

“For this latest outrage, one in an escalating series of impunity, the buck stops yet again at the presidency and that incumbent, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, continues to surprise us in ways that very few have conjectured.

“The shambles that punctuated a presidential campaign visit at the OAU a few days ago merely underline the total alienation of President Jonathan from the reality that has engulfed the nation.

“That a national leader should go campaigning on the platform of ethnic support at a time when priorities dictate a united national engagement for survival is a grotesque undertaking that was tragically rebuked in the massacre of worshippers and desecration of the Kano mosques almost simultaneously with the alienated gathering of selected crowned heads.

“Long before Nyanya, long before Chibok, long before the mildest of then now innumerable violations of our basic right to exist as free citizens, the march of a nation towards implosion has dominated the landscape but an obsession with the pettiness of power has obscured remedial vision and thus, the creative options constantly open to prescient leadership.

“The lesson of Mali was completely lost on complacent leadership, however, leaving time and space for alien invaders to make common cause with the internal, unleashing detruction at will and dancing around a nation whose armed forces have acquitted themselves creditably on foreign missions.

“The architect of the initial policy of containment was the recently deceased Gbenga Ashiru, then Foreign Minister, unceremoniously removed for the ends of premature politicking, before the logical development of that initiative.

“Now of course, the very manipulators of Ashiru’s removal are falling over one another, to heap praises on the quality of his achievements in office.”

Soyinka, who was obviously displeased with the way the ship of the country is being steered by Jonathan, also blamed him for mayhem witnessed recently at the National Assembly.

He accused the President of desperacy to return to power in 2015, so much so that he is exploiting ethnic sentiment as a political tool.

It would be recalled that in the Holy Bible, that King Nebuchadnezzar ruled with so much power, and despite his awesomeness, at the peek of his reign, he became too arrogant to the extent that God tampered with his heart and made him to eat grass and live like an animal for seven years, after which he was restored to his normal self.

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