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Soyinka Faults Tinubu’s National Broadcast

Published

1 year ago

August 4, 2024

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Sunday faulted President Bola Tinubu’s national broadcast for not addressing the violent crackdown by security forces on #EndBadGovernance protesters.

Soyinka, in a statement expressed concern over the president’s omission of this critical issue.

He said: “I set my alarm clock for this morning to ensure that I did not miss President Bola Tinubu’s impatiently awaited address to the nation on the current unrest across the nation.

“His outline of government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis. My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.

“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.

“Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest. Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation. They belong indeed in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblazoned on posters.

“They serve as summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation.

“The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests.
“It evokes pre-independence – that is, colonial – acts of disdain, a passage that induced the late stage pioneer Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera BREAD AND BULLETS, earning that nationalist serial persecution and proscription by the colonial government.

“The nation’s security agencies cannot pretend unawareness of alternative models for emulation, civilized advances in security intervention.

“Need we recall the nationwide 2022/23 editions of what is generally known as the YELLOW VEST movement in France? Perhaps it is time to make such scenarios compulsory viewing in policing curriculum. In all of the coverage that I watched, I did not catch one single instance of a gun leveled at protesters, much less fired at them even during direct physical confrontations.

“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves – a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.

“The time is long overdue, surely, to abandon, permanently, the anachronistic resort to lethal means by the security agencies of governance. No nation is so under-developed, materially impoverished, or simply internally insecure as to lack the will to set an example. All it takes is to recall its own history, then exercise the will to commence a lasting transformation, inserting a break in the chain of lethal responses against civic society.

“Today’s marchers may wish to consider adopting the key songs of Hubert Ogunde’s BREAD AND BULLETS, if only to inculcate a sense of shame in the continuing failure to transcend the lure of colonial inheritance where we all were at the receiving end. One way or the other, this vicious cycle must be broken.”

Related Topics:#Tinubu Prof. Wole Soyinka Soyinka

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BREAKING: Anthony Joshua Involved In Road Accident

Published

39 minutes ago

December 29, 2025

Editor

A renowned global boxer Anthony Joshua has been involved in a road accident on Monday in Makun, Ogun State.

The was said to have occurred along a busy highway of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

The vehicle carrying Joshua reportedly collided with another car under circumstances that are still being investigated.

The said I said to have sustained minor injuries, saying that two people died on the spot.

Meanwhile, fans have flooded social media with messages of concern, while local authorities continue to investigate the cause of the crash.

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Ex-Edo Gov Obaseki Reacts As His Cousin Is Beaten, Stripped

Published

21 hours ago

December 28, 2025

Editor

The immediate past governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has reacted to the attack on Don Pedro Obaseki, the Chief Executive Officer of Osamudia Farms.

Don Pedro Obaseki, a cousin to the immediate past governor was attacked at Uwa Primary School where he went to play football.

In a viral video, Pedro Obaseki is seen kneeling at the Oba of Benin Palace gate, before he was dragged into the palace where he was asked to crawl before some chief walked up to the scene and rescued him.

Reacting, the ex-Edo governor described the act as a “grave violation of fundamental human rights and a reckless disregard for the rule of law.”

Obaseki, said: “I call on security agencies to immediately investigate this matter thoroughly and transparently, identify those responsible for this barbaric act and ensure they are held accountable in accordance with the law.

“A situation where thugs and non-state actors appear to freely take the law into their own hands on behalf of high-profile individuals and those in positions of authority can only result in one outcome, a degeneration into a state of anarchy, which will do no one no good.”

He further charged, “I urge human rights organizations, civil society groups, and all well-meaning Nigerians to lend their voices and speak out firmly against this injustice and gross violation of human rights.”

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New Tax Laws: Suspend January 2026 Implementation — Senator Ndume Tells Tinubu

Published

2 days ago

December 27, 2025

Editor

Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to suspend the January 1, 2026, implementation of the country’s new tax laws amid growing controversy.

The federal lawmaker made the appeal in a statement he issued on Wednesday in Abuja.

This comes as the Nigerian Bar Association demanded the suspension of the implementation.

Recall that a member of the House of Representatives, Abdussamad Dasuki, had last week called the Parliament’s attention to alleged alteration to the tax laws.

READ ALSO:FIRS Confirms NIN As Tax ID

Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, in an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday, called for calm over claims of alterations in tax laws and urged Nigerians to allow lawmakers to complete their investigation before drawing conclusions.

Speaking on the ongoing controversy about the tax laws, Ndume noted that proceeding with the implementation without getting to the root of the alleged forgery will create a legitimacy challenge for the tax laws.

His statement read, “With the controversy surrounding it, the President should constitute a team to verify the veracity of the claim and act accordingly.

“As the responsive leader that he has always been, he should look at it to find out if the copy that was signed and the claim of alterations are genuine so that he will do the needful to bring the controversy to rest.

“If not, the controversy will continue.” That is to say, the tax law will not be implemented, because you can’t build on nothing.

“So, Mr. President should suspend the implementation until the issues are resolved because so many civil society organizations, the Arewa Community, and the Nigerian Bar Association are saying that he should withdraw the tax law and investigate the allegation of forgery.”

“Therefore, Mr President should get to the root of the allegation of forgery. The small committee that will be set up should look into it while the House of Representatives does its own.”