Nobel Laureate,
Professor Wole Soyinka has expressed disappointments over the statement by the River
State Commissioner of Information, Dr. Austin Tam-George requesting him to
refund cash gifts given to him from the N82 million allegedly spent to honour
him on a dinner marking his 80th birthday by the past administration
of Mr. Rotimi Amechi.
Soyinka who sadly described
it as ‘abominable distractions by insecure incumbent of the Rivers State
government lodge” noted that he has never intruded into the expenditures
budgeted to honour him both in Nigeria or across international communities, and
therefore wondered how a gesture given to him by a state government could
become an issue to the extent of requesting him for a refund of cash gifts, if
any.
He however added that though it was disappointing, he however wasn’t
worried over it.
Emphatically, he
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 Wike-leaks call for multi-directional probes. I recommend
further that he involve the services of INTERPOL to guarantee its extension to
all international organizations 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,” he concluded.
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