Soyinka defends govt’s action on Libya

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

IT was one of the rare instances of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka endorsing the Federal Government’s actions.

To him, the logic of Nigeria’s recognition of the National Transitional Council (TNC) of Libya was so compelling that it could only elicit his approval.

Prof. Soyinka’s submissions were contained in the full lecture he initially delivered at the 50th anniversary of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), made available to The Guardian at the weekend.

Soyinka noted that “neither Nigeria, nor any other nation, will decide in isolation what sort of governance will operate within her borders.”

Defending Nigeria’s position on Libya, he said: “The act of striking out boldly on behalf of people, in unambiguous opposition to state, when the state turns cruel and oppressive, is a pointer to the direction that we outlined at the beginning. ‘Breaking ranks’ is not the pejorative indication that it is simplistically made out to be. If the ranks are compromised, you break with them. If such compromises make them drag their feet in a moment of critical, potentially affective decision, you break off and set the pace for the rest to follow. Risk or no risk, it is an honorable position.”

According to Soyinka, “the days of governance mystification will be decisively over. Humanity will have discovered, certainly long before the end of the twenty-first century, that issues of governance have always been adjustments between two distinct polarities – Power and Freedom.

“Be that as it may, Nigeria’s (initial) unilateral action at the significant moment conveniently takes us straight into the heart of this address since, fortunately, the nation did get it right this time, one of the rare occasions when she can look her face in the mirror without averting her eyes in disgust, and even look down in condescension on her fellow occupants of the continental shelf.”

Soyinka recalled that “there was another such moment in our past, to my recollection – this was when the government of Murtala Muhammed came out in favour of liberation forces of MPLA as opposed to UNITA, the latter having proved heavily compromised by its close ties to Apartheid South Africa.”

He continued: “This is one of the reasons – just to focus on Libya for a while – why I take the view that critics of Nigeria’s early recognition of the Libyan insurgents, are not only rehashing time-worn political platitudes, but placing themselves on the wrong side of history. These critics are also guilty of the crime of which they try to convict the act – hastiness. They assume that the surrender, or seizure of the ropes of control automatically liberates the masquerade into the hands of the Libyan insurgents. Or else they are on the alert against usurpation in only one direction – the much hated, justly excoriated West.

-Guardianwp_posts