Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has issued a stark warning to President Tinubu, cautioning that the heavy-handed actions of security forces could spark a revolution.
Soyinka expressed his concerns over the government’s violent response to civilian protests.
“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves—a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions,” he stated.
A longtime ally of President Tinubu, Soyinka criticized the government’s handling of protest management, highlighting shortcomings in the president’s recent address.
“My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.”
He further condemned the use of live ammunition against protesters, noting the harmful cycle of resentment and reprisals it perpetuates.
“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.”
Soyinka stated that the use of live bullets in response to peaceful protests is a critical issue, deeming even the use of tear gas as abusive in many cases.
“Hunger marches constitute a universal SOS, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation,” he added, underscoring the universal plea for basic needs.
