LAGOS — NOBEL laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has demanded the immediate prosecution of indicted government officials involved in the subsidy scam.
While he called on Nigerians to be prepared to protest against corruption in the country, he said it was imperative for subsequent public hearing to be televised and held in public view.
On its part, the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, has given President Goodluck Jonathan a two-week ultimatum to take legal action against perpetrators of the petroleum subsidy report just as it demanded the appointment of a private prosecutor to deal with the prosecutions.
Convener of the SNG, Pastor Tunde Bakare, said this at a press conference in Lagos.
Reacting to the report of House of Representatives probe of the subsidy reforms in the country, Prof. Soyinka said Nigerians had been dehumanized over the outcome of the probe.
Soyinka said: "All I can say is that we have been overwhelmed into insensitivity by sheer excess. I have studied very carefully those figures and I have had to take a couple of aspirins after every paragraph, after every figure to ask myself and pinch myself are we really living in the real world? Or whether this is some kind of fantasy world which is projected onto the pages of newspapers.
"These are not figures plucked out in thin air. We have listened very carefully, the sources of these figures are being cited, the reaction of House of Representatives has been noted; but we have not heard any of these figures disputed by the relevant instruments of government.
"One can no longer use the words like disdain and contempt, we have moved beyond that. We are being treated, not even like first or second class citizens, when we are brushed in this way, we are being dehumanized. It goes beyond just insults from arrogance, people who believe that they can get away with murder.
"Just as we thought we had recovered from the pension scam, along came a humongous scam, material assault on the resources of the ordinary people. All that I will ask is a specific plea that the populace should be ready for another determined march on corruption."
Future hearings be held in public
On the need for future hearings to be held in public, the Nobel laureate said: "The hearings have been held, but I think that future hearings should actually be held in public, it should be televised live. We are not talking about any kangaroo trial or trial by media. No, we are just looking for an open examination of what is going on. I think we should agree that we should not leave further hearings just only to the chambers of the legislature. I think these hearing should take place in public. We should hear those who are involved directly, attempt to exonerate themselves and give an explanation for rational, ordinary people to speak for themselves."
He called on the relevant anti-graft agencies to prosecute those found culpable in the subsidy scam.
He said: "Before that takes place, I think there is enough prima facie caused by the EFCC and ICPC and all other investigative and prosecuting bodies. In all this situations, we have all been obviously ridiculed in front of the whole wide world. We have heard the comments of the international monitoring community and what we who travel have to undergo from commentaries from our nation. It is against our governance. The humiliation is just too excessive and I think it’s wrong that some of us have to bear these brunts of criminality and lack of conscience of other people.
"So, it’s two things, my demands are two things and they are very simple. Further hearings should be in public and should be televised. Secondly, the anti-corruption bodies specifically set up, are already overwhelmed, but we should not wait until the burden is taken off our shoulders by external courts.
"Like what happened to Ibori, who got away with 170 charges, it took a court from a former colonial master to say: you people must be stupid, we can deal with this scenario.
"Finally, Nigerians must be prepared to march, they must be prepared to come out enmass and demand a termination to this career of insolence against the ordinary people. These monies being stolen is intended for the populace."
SNG gives FG two-week ultimatum
In his speech entitled Kleptocracy unlimited, Pastor Bakare said the report of the House of Reps adhoc committee on the management of petroleum subsidy revealed "an organised banditry."
He said "every line in the committee’s report is a poignant statement on the culture of official corruption in Nigeria. That what we are dealing with is organised banditry is underscored by the fact that virtually every organ of government that has anything to do with fuel importation was indicted, excluding external auditors. It would have been impossible to carry out this horrendous haemorrhage on our treasury if it was not sanctioned from the highest levels."
While he commended the House of Reps "for its painstaking consideration and adoption" of the report, he said "this shall go down in history as one act of redemption by a chamber of the National Assembly that has not done much since 1999 to endear itself to the people it represents."
He, however, noted that panicky measures taken by the Federal Government to occupy the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park at Ojota with security agencies won’t "postpone the day of reckoning."
Giving a two-week ultimatum for the prosecution of indicted government officials involved in the subsidy scam, he said: "Now is the time to act to save our country from the grip of corruption. To this end, we are giving two weeks to see concrete steps in the direction of prosecuting the indicted officials failing which, we shall be calling our people out to protest."
He also added that "given the low confidence the people have in the anti-corruption agencies in dealing with political corruption in Nigeria, we are demanding the appointment of a private prosecutor to deal with these prosecutions."
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