Professor
Wole Soyinka has replied the Rivers State Government over its unruly
statement demanding that the Nobel Laureate refund money belonging to
Rivers people he collected from Amaechi.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka
Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has lambasted the Rivers
State Government in strongly lettered words after comments by the Rivers
State Commissioner for Information, Dr Austin Tam-George, requested
that he refund the money he collected from the N82 million allegedly
spent by immediate-past Governor, Rotimi Amaechi on a dinner to honour
him.
Soyinka in the statement entitled, 'Those who flounder in the sewage of corruption,' said: “This
morning, I saw only the headlines in one or two print media regarding
the 80th Birthday dinner to which I was hosted by the former governor of
Rivers State, the Honorable Rotimi Amaechi, now Minister of
Transportation.
“I ignored them. It was not, and remains not my business to
probe into the catering and logistical implications of the hundreds of
institutions and governments all over the world to whom I acknowledge an
immense debt of unsolicited recognition over the years.
“Since then, however, I have learnt of some unsavory statements by the insecure incumbent of the Rivers State government Lodge.
“These included a loose invitation to anti-crime agencies to
investigate the potential crime of being honoured through any occasion.
“The unprecedented call by this governor is prescient of a
warning I recounted in my recent pamphlet publication THE REPUBLIC OF
LIARS, and was taken from my address to an anti-corruption global
conference that took place in Tunisia two years ago. Those words were:
CORRUPTION STRIKES BACK.
“In this ongoing instance, that expression translates most
vividly as ‘Those who are neck deep in the sewage of corruption ensure
that they splatter sewage in all possible and improbable directions’.
“I do however fully support the Wikeleaks call for
multi-directional probes. I recommend further that he involve the
services of INTERPOL to guarantee its extension to all international
organisations and governments to whom I owe uncountable events of
recognition – including birthday luncheons, dinners, cultural receptions
and events of real, fictitious, or simply opportunistic flavoring – to
which I have submitted myself.
“The descent to this present level of abominable distractions
makes one truly despair. It is one that even I did not envisage when I
warned – CORRUPTION STRIKES BACK! Whether it brings honour or dishonour
to the nation is another matter – I am saddened, but indifferent.
“EFCC and company – over to you! You all know where I live,” Soyinka added.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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