RUGA Settlement: Ooni Of Ife, Wole Soyinka Reacts To The Threats Made By Northern Youths

Hate Speech Bill:

In reaction to the 30-day ultimatum given by a group of Northern Nigerian youths asking governors opposed to the idea of Ruga Settlements to accept the RUGA proposal or risk Southerners living in the North being asked to leave the region, some prominent Nigerians are calling for deliberate efforts to douse rising ethnic tensions across the country.

The latest to speak up after the ultimatum given by a Northern youth group was Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and the Ooni Of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi. Both men aired their views at a meeting on July 4th 2019, in Abeokuta, on the threats made by the youths, both men condemned the line of action towed by the norther group.

In a statement jointly signed by Prof. Soyinka and Oba Ogunwusi, they both warned that Nigeria cannot survive another major national crisis or War of the magnitude of the 1966-1970 Civil War and that conscious efforts must be made to prevent such reoccurrence.

While acknowledging the right of the Northern group to make their demand as allowed by freedom of expression, they in the exercise of the same right called on all Nigerian nationals to defend the sanctity of their ancestral lands, adding that this birthright remains inviolate, even under colonial occupation.

The statement adds, “We call on the Nigerian people to recognize that the internal colonization project is ever recurrent, that there are backward, primitive, undeveloped minds that have failed, and continue to fail to overcome delusions in this antiquated belief in sectarian domination as the key to social existence, a belief that despises peaceful cohabitation that is based on mutual respect.”

Read Also: Buhari’s Government Suspends RUGA Programme After-Unprecedented Public Outcry

While calling on Nigerians, both on state and community levels, to step up discussions on the future structure of the nation, and take steps to preserve and enhance their distinct cultural identities, Prof. Soyinka and Oba Ogunwusi emphasized the rights of every Nigerian and community or group of human beings as primary and pre-eminent over and above all other parameters of human development or formal associations. Photo Credit: Getty

Leave a Reply