Nigeria on the brink, says Soyinka

NOBEL laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has cautioned that Nigeria is on the brink and President Goodluck Jonathan must take proactive steps that would prevent the nation from going into another round of civil war.Soyinka, who was the chairman of the Third Bola Ahmed Tinubu Colloquium titled Beyond Mergers: “A National Movement for Change, A New Generation Speaks”, blamed the President for failing to take Nigeria into confidence on the present crisis of the Boko Haram insurgents.Soyinka said Nigerians should not make the mistake of thinking that the Boko Haram crisis was confined to the northern part of the country alone, thereby, “the leadership of the country needs to impact this fact into Nigerians to prevent us from witnessing another round of war.”After taking a cursory look at the situation in the country, which he concluded was sorry and regrettable, Soyinka said: “This is not the Nigeria we envisaged when we struggled for independence, this is not what we envisaged when we struggled to overthrow military dictatorship and restore the rights and dignity of human beings. But whether we like it or not, it has come upon us.“My problem with the government right now, especially the President of this nation, is that he does not seem to realise, he has not taken into consideration and into cognisance that by now, he should be addressing the nation and give detailed explanation why this nation is at war.”He said certain things have to be done to ensure that this nation was pulled back from the second round of what is leading towards a civil war. “By now, we should be tightening our belt, we should not see what is happening in the North as being confined to the North. It is obvious all along that this is not a northern affair. No. We heard recently that some members of the sect have been found in Lagos, that is not new, it started years ago. Everyone should understand that the problem we are facing right now is not regional; it is national and a human problem. It is called Boko Haram. That is the kind of language I believe the leadership of this nation should be imparting to Nigerian citizens.”He continued:  “Let us face it, this nation is on the brinks. Those who do understand it, I feel very sorry for them because they will one day wake up and find out that we have fallen as a nation.”