Soyinka Calls Jonathan “Nebuchadnezzar”

Nobel Laurette, Professor Wole Soyinka took his jibe against President

Goodluck Jonathan to an all time low, likening him to the biblical

Nebuchadnezzar. Soyinka also lambasted the Inspector General of Police, Sulaiman Abba,

describing his action against members of the House of Representatives as a

declaration of war against the Nigerian people. “I shall not insist that the biblical figure of Nebuchadnezzar is uniquely

apt for the pivotal figure of the 'democratic' history in the making at

this moment,” Soyinka said at a Press conference in Lagos he titled: The

Nebuchadnezzar. “For one thing, Nebu was a nation builder and a warrior. One could argue

even more convincingly for the figure of Balthazar, his successor, or

indeed Emperor Nero as reference point – you all remember him – the

emperor who took to fiddling while Rome was burning.

“However you should easily recall why I opted for King Nebu – the figure

that currently sits on the top of our political pile himself evoked it,

albeit in a context that virtuously disclaimed any similarities, even

tendencies. Perhaps he meant it at the time when he claimed: 'I am no

Nebuchadnezzar.' Perhaps not. One judges leaders on acts however, not

pronouncements, which are often as reliable as electoral promises.”

“The praetorian guards have been let loose – to teach the rabble their

place,” he said. “The recent choice of a new leader for the guard was clearly no accident,

and this hitherto unknown enforcer, one Suleiman Abba, has wasted no time

in inaugurating a season of brutish power. When a people's elected

emissaries are disenfranchised, cast out like vagrants and resort to

scaling fences to engage in their designated functions, the people get the

message. “However, the choice is always there, and each choice comes at a cost. It

is either we pay now, or pay later.” “Peaking at his own personalised example where he set the law of

arithmetic on its head – I refer to the split in the Governors' Forum, and

his 'formal' recognition of the minority will in a straightforward, peer

election – democracy has been rendered meaningless where it should be most

fervently exemplified. “Nothing is more unworthy of leadership than to degrade a system by which

one attains fulfillment, and this is what the nation has witnessed time

and time again in various parts of the nation, the recent affront against

the legislative chamber being only the most blatant and unconscionable…

“It is a warning. His choices for the occupancy of crucial public

positions – such as the protective arm of the nation – constitutes an even

more immediate and constant public alert. The signals are ominous – for

and beyond 2015.” The post Soyinka Calls Jonathan “Nebuchadnezzar” appeared first on Pointblank News .