Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka seeks global solution to terrorism in Nigeria

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday gave a nod of approval to the Federal Government�s acceptance of assistance from United States of America in the ongoing efforts to rescue the abducted students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

Soyinka wants other countries of the world to assist in ending terrorism in Nigeria.
The Nobel Laureate, who spoke on a live programme monitored on Cable News Network (CNN), described the Boko Haram insurgency in the country as an international crisis that requires all efforts to address, adding that President Goodluck Jonathan should have asked for the United States� assistance much earlier in view of the seriousness of the situation.

According to him, the problem was allowed to linger for too long which has now turned the situation into a festering case. �I don�t believe in false pride. The problem has been allowed to fester for too long. We are dealing with monstrosity, the kind we�ve never known before. �The situation has gone beyond the capacity of the Federal Government and it has to be internationalised,� he stated.
While admitting that the kind of security challenges the nation is faced with now are difficult to deal with anywhere in the world, Soyinka added, however, that such was not a reason for government not to address the problems. �I think anyone at all who feels the threat has got to take this government to task on any level. �Many things could have been done, abduction, terrorism, suicide bombing. These are very difficult situations to deal with, but it is easy to anticipate. Those who are coming out on the streets now, they have always been conscious to some extent, but they didn�t realise how soon the inanity of the action will catch on them.�

Soyinka explained that the situation at hand had gone so bad now that it will be difficult to predict when or how things will eventually end, adding, however, that the government will not forget this experience in a hurry.

�Where it will end I don�t know. But one thing is certain, the President and his cabinet cannot sleep easily after what has happened to them. It is not possible either, anyway, to pretend.�

The Nobel Laureate who refused to be dragged into the controversy of the conduct of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, also argued that the present crisis can neither be called a Christian or Muslim crisis, but simply a case of people involved in bestiality.

Soyinka added: �I have called attention to this problem a number of times as a paradox to what is happening. It is to tell the Muslim fundamentalists they should desist from this bestiality and that the Christians and also the Muslim are the same. The issue is complimentary. It starts from the fundamentalist fascism assumption that you can dominate the environment where you are operating. It is a mentality.�