Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has called on the security agencies in the country not to clampdown protest by the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group, saying it is a way of reminding government that the children are still missing.
Speaking at the 20th anniversary of Halifield schools at Maryland, Lagos on Thursday, Prof. Soyinka made reference to one of the newspapers’ headlines that says “demonstration on behalf of the Chibok girls poses threat to national security,” said his mind flew back immediately to a governor under democratic leadership where parents were teargased for demonstrating peacefully about losing their children in a plane crash.
He admonished the government not to forget the missing children of Chibok because democracy is not about campaigning alone but its about exercising human right, saying, “Demonstration cannot be too much as long as those girls are still missing.”
He maintained that Nigerians must continue to exercise the spirit of solidarity for the return of the girls.
“Together with hundreds of sympathisers, who joined them on the way, the BBOG protesters had on August 22, moved towards the Presidential Villa, demanding concrete actions from the federal government to save the girls.
Meanwhile, the Nobel Laureate said there is need for Nigerians to contribute their quota in order to bring about the change and not continue to criticise.
“The minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe said if we are not careful there is likely to be shortage of food and those that are not economist understand that the country is in trouble.
“There are some things we can do within our community and we can all be involved by contributing our quota starting from our community to the state,” he added.
