HeadlineI Am Not Part Of Any International Group But Some Militant Groups...

I Am Not Part Of Any International Group But Some Militant Groups Have Contacted Me – Soyinka

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SAN FRANCISCO, August 26, (THEWILL) – Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has revealed that that some Niger Delta militant groups had reached out to him in their efforts at interfacing with the Federal Government saying that the militants are not convinced that the Federal Government is responding to them with a great degree of seriousness.

Soyinka also said he had passed on the message of what was happening in the region to some international figures in London, but emphasised that no international interventionist group had been formed on the matter.

Soyinka made this known while briefing newsmen at a press conference to update the nation about the activities of the Wole Soyinka Foundation where he disclosed that the Cedars Institute, Notre Dame University, Lebanon, and the Wole Soyinka Foundation would partner on a programme designed to promote cultural dialogue.

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“I wish to make an appeal to the government to respond positively to the outreach from the militant groups. That is the request which has been made by some of the groups,” he revealed.

“At the moment, they feel that the government of President Buhari is not seriously responding to them and I will make a personal appeal to the government to respond positively and let us see where it ends.

“But I am not part of any international group, I was approached personally and I have been responding personally to some of these groups just as I did when President Jonathan was in power and MEND was the umbrella group of the insurgents.

“So, I make that appeal once more to the government to please respond to the efforts of these militant groups to arrive at a holistic and comprehensive solution.

“When I was ambushed at the Villa the other day, I did say that I would answer questions on my visit to the Villa at a press conference that I had already planned, which is this one as a matter of fact.

“What I have to say is that today is not the day I will talk about that visitation and the real reason is this, I had a meeting with the House of Lords in London. The meeting was not about the main subject that took me to Aso Rock which, among other things, is the problem we have in the Delta.

“But I used that opportunity to meet a certain number of international figures, parliamentarians, royal heads to pass on a message internationally to prospective interveners in what is happening in the Delta at the request of some of the militant groups.

“That meeting was reported in the media and it was badly distorted. Let me make a plea, it is bad enough distorting whatever happens on certain subjects. But on an issue like the insurgency in Nigeria, the Delta, in particular, we have very delicate grounds and the media has a huge role to play in that.”

Soyinka also declared that the subject, History, be restored in Nigerian schools’ curriculum following the removal of the subject from primary and secondary schools’ curriculum since the 2009/2010 academic session.

“I learnt not so long ago that history has been taken off the curriculum in this country. Can you imagine that? History? What is wrong with history? Or maybe I should ask, what is wrong with some people’s head?” he queried.

“History is so fundamental to self-knowledge, to identity, to understanding where you came from and therefore where you might be headed.

“So how can a subject like History be excised from the curriculum of any school?”

The Nobel Laurate also declared that Boko Haram insurgents be wiped out.

“Boko Haram, for instance, is a result of religious lunacy and intoxication. There’s no other explanation for it. And if somebody is trying to kill you, I believe you have a responsibility to kill them first,” he declared.

“And so I don’t want to present myself as a candidate for Nobel Prize for Peace because I’m not a very peaceful person.

“I believe very much that aggression must be met by, every possible means, aggression. I’m not saying I’m dedicated to peace. I’m dedicated to culture, to intellectualism, to the expansion of human horizon’s creativity.

“Believe me I’m no evangelist for peace. Not when people are torturing, killing children, kidnapping people who we sent to go and learn. For me they got to be wiped out.”

Story by David Oputah

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