Balarabe Musa’s Amotekun Statement Is Based On Fear, Not Fact – Wole Soyinka

Posted by: Folamidavid in News, Politics Jan 21, 2020

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has said ex-Governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa describing Amotekun as a security outfit in the South West region is a recipe for tragedy.

The award-winning writer revealed this in a recent statement today.

According to him, he wants Nigeria to avoid the mistake by Balarabe because he is only speaking fearfully not factfully.

He added that such statements can be really misleading and should be avoided.

His words, “Balarabe is sadly, but I hope not tragically wrong. I invoke the tragic dimension here because the making of tragedy, especially for nations, often begins when fears are mistaken or promoted as facts, and governments either by themselves, or together with interest groups, are enticed by fears into embarking on precipitate, irrational, and irreversible acts.

“Such acts turn out, in the end, to be based on nothing but fears, sometimes generated by guilt over past injustices, such as inequitable dealing.

“That is the basis of tragedy, towards which nations are propelled by a partial, or wrongful reading of socio-political realities and history.

“I would like to see this nation avoid such a blunder. So, I am certain, would Balarabe Musa.

“Raising the spectre of secession is a facile approach to the dangerous, self-evident lapses in governance which Balarabe himself acknowledges in his response to the Amotekun principle made flesh.

“The midwives of Amotekun have repeatedly acknowledged that theirs is only a contribution towards a crisis of escalating proportions.

“Other states should be encouraged to emulate, not misread such initiatives, then demonize them by false attributions That are the certain recipe for tragedy.”