Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has urged all Nigerians to join the
fight against the deadly activities of the violent Islamist sect known as Boko
Haram and other insurgents.
Soyinka made this statement at the formal inauguration of UNESCO’s 2014
World Book Capital City, in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, on
Wednesday.
While delivering the keynote address at the event – themed ‘Republic of the
mind and thraldom of fear’ – he noted that the sect was fighting a
psychological war against the country and its people.
He said, “The current battlefield stretches beyond the physical terrain. We
are engaged in a battle for the mind, which is where it all begins and where it
will eventually be concluded. The battlefield is primarily ours.”
Soyinka said since the abduction of over 120 pupils of Government Girls’
Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State signalled a more dangerous dimension in
the security crisis in the country, Nigerians must rise up to confront the
threat posed by the sect.
“Boko Haram represents the ultimate Fatwa of our time. The question is does
the sect’s Fatwa represent the articulated position of the majority of Muslims
in this nation? My reading over the last few years is an unambiguous no.
“We are undergoing an affliction that many could not have imagined about a
decade ago. Let us confront the ultimate horror now.
“To remain inactive at this moment is to betray our children and to
consolidate the ongoing crimes against our humanity. We must take the battle to
the enemy.
“This is no idle rhetoric. I will not go further. We sent our children to
school; we must bring them back to school,” he said.
He described the 2014 World Book Capital event in the famous Garden city
itself as a powerful statement implying a tacit rejection of Boko Haram’s Fatwa
on Nigerians, as well as a gesture that contests the delusions of grandeur of
members of the sect.
Echoing the recent call by Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State to
Nigerian Muslims to rise against the activities of Boko Haram and to reject
everything that the sect represents, he said that Nigerians must similarly be
prepared to reassure members of the Boko Haram that their Fatwa does not apply
to the nation.
While urging President Goodluck Jonathan not to re-impose tax on books,
Soyinka also noted that life would be sweeter if books were allowed free access
to Nigerians.
Also, former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, Retd, who chaired the
occasion, made a plea for peace in the country.
“We all need to work together so that there will be peace in our country.
If there is no peace, there will be no chance to read books and there will be
no country. So I enjoin all Nigerians to join hands and ensure that we maintain
peace in this country,” he said.
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