SOYINKA ON INSECURITY.
Anthony Akinola
Insecurity: Pay people to help us, Soyinka urges govts
Kayode Oyero
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has called for a national mobilisation to combat the menace of insecurity bedeviling the country.
He stated this on Saturday while featuring on an Arise TV programme monitored by The PUNCH.
Soyinka also said Nigeria has reached the “stage of desperation” and the government should be willing to “pay people to come and help us” in defence against Boko Haram insurgents, bandits, and other criminal elements.
The Nobel Laureate berated some northern governors for negotiating with bandits and criminal elements, saying, “You don’t appease evil; we are dealing with evil, there is no other word, we are dealing with the proliferation, the enthronement of evil in the society. And unfortunately, we have encouraged its manifestation, its proliferation, its entrenchment.
“So, let them get away with the issue of sovereignty. If they have to pay people to come and help us, then call them whatever you want. Please go ahead because we’ve reached that stage of desperation.
“But I will prefer a general mobilisation in which people are trained, farmers especially are trained to work with the hoe in one hand and the gun in the other hand, ready to protect their lives, their harvests and the rest of us.
“We are not unique, history is full of those situations…I will like to see a national mobilisation. Let’s be practical.”