Prof Wole Soyinka has slammed ex-governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, over his comment that Operation Amotekun will lead to the declaration of Oduduwa Republic.
The security outfit was initiated by the six South-West governors to tackle kidnapping, banditry and other criminal activities in the geopolitical zone.
Some Nigerians have supported the initiative while some are against it.
The Federal Government through the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, has since declared Amotekun as illegal.
Balarabe had said during an interview with a national daily that Operation Amotekun would lead to the declaration of Oduduwa Republic.
But Soyinka in a statement on Tuesday faulted Balarabe’s position on Amotekun.
The Nobel Laureate said, “Balarabe is sadly but I hope not tragically wrong. I invoke the tragic dimension here because the making of tragedy, especially for nations, often begins when fears are mistaken or promoted as facts, and governments either by themselves, or together with interest groups, are enticed by fears into embarking on precipitate, irrational, and irreversible acts.
“Such acts turn out, in the end, to be based on nothing but fears, sometimes generated by guilt over past injustices, such as inequitable dealing. That is the basis of tragedy, towards which nations are propelled by a partial, or wrongful reading of socio-political realities and history. I would like to see this nation avoid such a blunder. So, I am certain, would Balarabe Musa.
“Raising the spectre of secession is a facile approach to the dangerous, self-evident lapses in governance which Balarabe himself acknowledges in his response to the Amotekun principle made flesh. The midwives of Amotekun have repeatedly acknowledged that theirs is only a contribution towards a crisis of escalating proportions. Other states should be encouraged to emulate, not misread such initiatives, then demonise them by false attributions. That is the certain recipe for tragedy.”
