Professor Wole Soyinka, Nigerian playwright and literary luminary has condemned individuals who tag Operation Amotekun(leopard) initiated by the South West governors to curb insecurity in their region.
Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday, the Akogun of Isara traced his past concerns for sanity on roads through a memo to the then military governor of the Western State, Maj.-Gen. David Jemibewon (retd).
He further made reference to talks on the protection of lives and properties of Nigerians at the dawn of Boko Haram attacks during a meeting with the late National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoeye Azazi (retd) including hosting the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in his Abeokuta, Ogun State home on security matters.
Soyinka noted that Nigerians have the right to defend themselves against attacks.
“Our responsibility as a citizen is to take actions against events, phenomenon which militate against our existence, security, productivity and dignity as human beings,” he said.
“This has been a result of collective consciousness by people of this region. These governors met and they came up with this solution, Amotekun. Now, some people who have been sleeping all this time, taking belated actions in many directions, who watched the citizens of this nation decimated, villages wiped out, farmers chased off their land. They are now coming out to tell us that this initiative is illegal, unconstitutional. I think they should go back to sleep.
“I prefer to believe that the government itself has not spoken. I refuse to believe that any serious government will raise any objection to this kind of initiative. Amotekun has come to stay.
“Amotekun is only a part of the story. It should not be the only solution to insecurity. We should move from Amotekun to Awosikun. In other words, we should start thinking in terms of how to feed our own people.”
Speaking further ,the social critic urged the Buhari led administration to ask for international help as regards the state of insecurity in the country.
“I have always believed passionately in self policing, if it is possible to eliminate any kind of formal policing.It is important for us to note that the problem of insecurity transcends the boundary of Nigeria. This is one of the dramatic failures of the Buhari regime, the failure to admit that they are confronted by a negative phenomenon that extends them beyond their capacity. Ask for international help, this is an international menace”