* Says Supreme Court has wounded us
* Donates money to justices
NOBEL Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday announced that he was rejecting the money that goes with the Nigerian National Merit Award bestowed on him two days ago by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. However, he would keep the plaque, he said.
Citing disappointment by the judgment of the Supreme Court on the validation of the outcome of the presidential election held in April 2007, Soyinka said the timing could not have been more wrong, as he was caught between rubbishing the integrity of a long-held national institution and speaking against the odium handed down by the Supreme Court.
Addressing reporters yesterday at a press conference, Soyinka said his decision to accept the award initially was that "the NNMA is an honour bequeathed by one's own peers and not a political award, unlike the National Honours, which has turned into another annual jamboree of government. About a year ago, Prof. Femi Osofisan made enquiries about my readiness for the acceptance of the NNMA. The reason the board did this was that they were aware efforts had been made in the past to get me to accept it and I had always told them not to waste their time. But of late, I was impressed with the constitution and autonomy of the board, and because of my earlier consent, I was careful not to rubbish everything the NNMA stood for over the years and the works of one's colleagues, so I still confirmed my consent when Prof. Adegoke informed me the date had been determined.
"About an hour later, a journalist telephoned, asking me my opinion on the Supreme Court judgment, and for some moments, I was shocked. Up till that point, my public and private opinion was that the election was not over until all avenues of redress had been exhausted. But the election ended with the Supreme Court judgment and I found myself troubled again, so I sent my son to represent me after a very deep reflection, since I wasn't in the country."
While reiterating that he holds nothing personal against the President, Soyinka declared: "I would stop calling him a Presidential Incumbent and address him as President Yar'Adua, but he still remains the beneficiary of stolen goods, while the principal robber is former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The Supreme Court did not only hurl away the only opportunity of starting on a clean sheet, but is opening the floodgate reactions to electoral abuse like the one that took place in Jos. The Jos incident began with agitation after a sense of being robbed and the Supreme Court judgment has opened the door to recalls of that violent kind, because the citizenry has lost faith in the ultimate arbiter and protector of justice.
"On this note, I cannot fully accept the National Award. I had accepted it out of solidarity with my own colleagues, but I must return the prize money to the government and give it away as charity. I think the institution that requires this charity most at the moment is the Supreme Court. So, I am returning this cheque to restore something that is missing in the Supreme Court. Lawyers always emphasise the need not to go against the institution of the Supreme Court, but we have all been wounded by this institution, which requires healing. My decision to return the prize money is because of my deep respect for the National Merit Award, but I am today existing in a failed state. If the agency of justice failed, then we are all existing in a failed state."
Asked what is the value of the prize money, he replied, "to tell you the truth, I don't have an ideal what it is worth, I will return the cheque but will keep the plaque, because it is a merit award. President Yar'Adua said he would reform electoral processes in the country, but half of the work would have been done if the Supreme Court had made the right decision. People like Maurice Iwu would have begun to pack their bags, but the Apex Court has sanctified all the robbers of the last election, top of whom is Obasanjo. Both of who plotted the downfall of democracy in Nigeria. Everything was programmed to fail from the beginning."
When reminded that the Supreme Court ruling was by a narrow majority, Soyinka suggested that maybe the prize money could be used to buy bulletproof jeeps for the judges who gave the minority report. He refused to comment on the ministerial appointment announced by the President, saying he just arrived the previous night and was yet to see the list. But he added: "In principle, there is nothing wrong in inviting experience to serve with novices, it is the combination of experience and energy that makes a good team."
THE GUARDIAN
By Tope Templer Olaiya
December 19, 2008
