Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka on Monday, charged President Muhammadu Buhari to stop paying just lip service to the challenges facing Nigeria as a country.
Soyinka who spoke during an interview session on News Day, an Arise TV programme said the challenges facing the country can only be solved by action and not mere talking, reading statements and granting interviews.
He added that the problems facing Nigeria is no longer that of the people but that of leadership as the people have shown themselves ready to take action.
The Professor charged the President to stop exuding false confidence but to take the bull by the horn and wake up to the realities of what people expect him to do as a leader.
“First of all, he should start talking to people like a leader — and a leader who is awake to the realities of the situation. Then, let us see actions being taken,I’m tired of hearing things like ‘you will see differences in a few weeks’ time’. We are tired of that. He’s got to put his cards on the table and take people into confidence. He’s got to stop exuding a false confidence, because that kind of confidence is totally false. It is not based on realities, and we’ve got to see an acceleration of actions to retrieve this nation from the very edge. It is no longer a problem of the people, it is a problem of leadership, because the people have shown themselves ready to act, to save their own community.”
Soyinka added that members of the National Assembly are not doing enough to make Nigeria better while the various state governors are also timid. He also urged Nigerians to be wary of using social media to spread fake news or distort facts as it is a dangerous path to tread.
“Members of NASS are not doing enough. If you study the constitution very carefully, you will realize that they have certain powers which they haven’t touched, There are certain areas they can compel this government to act the way it should, and that applies especially to governors — the governors themselves are too timid. I appeal to people to stop putting words in my mouth. If you think you can pressure me to speak by stealing my identity and putting words in my mouth on social media, you are wasting your time. Not only that, you are acting in a distorting way, At this sensitive time, I must warn Nigerians to stop playing around with such serious issues, otherwise they are going to lose the kind of support they have from people like me,” he added.
