3rd August, 2022
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Tuesday backed the move by some lawmakers to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari over rising insecurity.
Soyinka spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun State at an interactive session to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Abeokuta Club.
The interactive session has the theme: “Good Governance or Mis-governance: The Contract called Democracy.”
The session has Soyinka as the moderator, while human rights lawyer, Femi Falana; the Registrar, Joint Administration and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede; a lawyer and Chattered Accountant, Gbenga Adeoye; a businessman in the state, Ogo-Oluwa Bankole and the spokesman of the Electricity Distribution Companies, Sunday Oduntan were the panelists.
According to Soyinka, Good governance or mis-governance, the contract called Democracy, indicated a contract which was why the candidate put on a manifesto and that on the basis of that manifesto such candidate was either be accepted or rejected.
“Very often, the grounds for breach of contract, I think we all agree is mis-governance and one of the ways of breaking this kind of contract, we know even before the duration of a contract is known as impeachment.
“And reason we will go by some legislators to impeach the president who is the head of government. In fact, one cleric has gone even further, he believes that the impeachment should take place not in the legislative home but in the bush with the kidnappers and he appealed to the kidnappers to quicken the process by impeaching the president and take him away and some of his aides and one or two governors,”
Soyinka also said the decision of the president to choose his successor showed that he had breached the contract of democracy.
According to him, “I am a moderator here today, If I want to go to the toilet and I will be away for a few minute and I want to appoint somebody in my replace, I am likely to look for somebody who moderates like I do, someone who shares principles with my moderation, the same methodology and perhaps the same position, somebody whom I believe will moderate effectively as I have tried to do.
“In any democracy, any president, any prime minister or whatever is entitled to one vote, we are not saying we should disenfranchise somebody because they are on top of governance. They had their right to campaign for any candidate they like but there is nothing in any constitution that I know of in any democratic constitution which says that the head of government should appoint his or her successor.
“I am not aware of it and this is a head of governance who is generally agreed, I believed, as having failed, having mis governed to the point that impeachment is being considered.”
Soyinka said he heard the governors went to Buhari who had failed to demand that he give them a successor.
“Many of us in this country, including governors, including chairmen of local governments, what comprehension they have of this process called Democracy because what this governance is telling us is that after a failure has occupied a seat of government for eight years, that failure should give us another failure for another eight years.
“So, those who feel that those governors who went to Buhari to give us a successor should also be impeached, can I please see your hands up in the air.
“I hope the governors will make a note of that, please stop desecrating democracy by trying to enthrone the nastic rule by the back door because that is what these governors did to intrigue a dynasty of failure, that is the meaning of that appeal to the outgoing president that, please, give us a successor. In fact, it is not democracy and that is not a respect of contract with the people of democracy,” he added.