Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to provide justice for victims of unresolved killings, including Deborah Samuel, who was lynched by fellow students in Sokoto State in 2022, as well as Mene Ogidi, a 28-year-old man allegedly shot dead by a police officer in Delta State.
Soyinka, who made the appeal on Friday at the 28th Wole Soyinka Lecture Series organized by the National Association of Seadogs (NAS) in Port Harcourt, Rivers, noted that Tinubu would be fulfilling his 2023 to campaign promise by resolving cases of assassinations and extrajudicial killings.
He urged Nigerians to demand accountability and called on Tinubu to reopen investigations into unresolved killings.
Soyinka, who themed his lecture,
“Reclaiming the Nigerian State through Accountability, Justice and Civic Courage,” stressed that perpetrators of crimes should be identified and prosecuted irrespective of their status or location.
At the lecture, which chaired by former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDC, Chief Timi Alaibe, the Nobel Laureate described Deborah Samuel’s killing as one of the tragedies that should continue to challenge the nation’s conscience.
He noted that the killers of Deborah Samuel reportedly displayed the matchstick used to set her ablaze publicly without facing justice years after the incident.
He contrasted that with the swift arrest of the police officer accused of killing Mene Ogidi, saying the differing responses reflected selective justice.
Soyinka said:”That is why my remark is to remind you of that, that actually through me, paying honour to those who’ve lost their lives as a result of these deficiencies in the state and also the criminal participation, even indirect, of ours, the complicity in the decimation and the devaluation of our humanity.
“I don’t want us to lose that sense that this session is dedicated to the martyrs, to those who have needlessly and avoidably lost their lives, whom we all admit, the life of a human being constitutes the basic unit of any community, any structure, any system of governance,” he said.
He added: “It’s dedicated to individuals, the youths, like Deborah, who was killed, who was butchered by her own classmates, hunted through the city, necklaced and set on fire. But that is not the crime. That really is not the crime.
“The crime is the silence of the rest of us, that such a thing is possible, and that the killers of that girl can actually go on television, hold up a match, and say this is the match with which I set her on fire,” he said.
“Watch with me so that we can force the government to bring up all the files. When there was a government retreat, you remember? The incoming president said, ‘I want all the files of all the unsolved assassinations, killings, extra-judicial killings.’
“What has happened to those files? I want you to join me in asking President Tinubu to say, ‘We want you to dig up those files. We want to know what happened, why it happened,’” Soyinka said.
Meanwhile, more than 3000 residents of Omuanwa Community Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State on Friday benefited from the National Association of Seadogs (NAS), Medical Mission and healthcare delivery.
The outreach, which took place on Friday at the Omuanwa Omuanwa Primary Health Care Centre, was meant to cater for the healthcare needs of 500 indigenes of the community, but ended up caring for far more than that.
The event was part of activities marking the association’s 50th Konverge in Port Harcourt and preceded a lecture by the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka,
Omuanwa community development committee chairman, Promise Ajoku said his committee had mobilised for almost 3,000 indigenes to seek care from the medical mission.
Vice President, National Association of Seadogs, Dr. Patrick Briggs said the activity is usually part of its quarterly meetings to offer humanitarian services, through the medical missions.
He said: “One of our philosophies is for humanistic ideals. That’s part of what we believe and aspire to as members of the National Association of Seadogs. So one way for us to do that is by having this medical mission to help people in the community who don’t have easy access to medical help, ” he said.
Briggs said their motivating factor for the missions is to see people who are downtrodden get necessary help when needed.
“We are always looking out for the downtrodden in the society. We are always looking out for the people who don’t have. And so that ideal drives us. We know medical can be very expensive especially in the rural areas.
“So what we do is, we look at this and say, lhow can we contribute to the society? So we have these medical missions regularly as a way of contributing our little quota to the society at large, to help the downtrodden access medical help,” he added.
Also, the Chief Medical Officer of NAS Medical Mission, Dr. Odoemene Chiazor explained that the mission had been in existence for over 13 years, adding that they do general review at everywhere community they go and attend to cases within their capacity and refer others that need secondary care where appropriate.
“So what we try to do when we come is community-based health care. We try to do general review based on anything they present. If we see any case we cannot manage, that maybe needs secondary care or tertiary care, we refer them to the tertiary institution. But those primary level, we take care of them here and support them, counsel them, and whatever else we can do for them, ” he stated.
Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Environment Technology (FUET), Prof. Prince Chinedu Mmom, expressed gratitude to the association for bringing the mission to his community. He said the mission has afforded many who can’t afford medical care the opportunity to be treated of their ailments.
“It’s a feeling of joy that this outreach programme is holding in my community. I’m so excited because if you look at the crowd here, you will see so many people who are in need of one medical attention or the other.
“So I commend the seadogs for bringing this medical mission to my community. I’m so excited, and of course, I know that many people will benefit from this program today and at least improve their health conditions,” Mmom said.
