Soyinka gives Buhari until end of July to end herdsmen killing or consider himself a failure

NOBEL laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has given President Muhammadu Buhari until the end of July to end the murderous activities of Fulani cattle herdsmen and facilitate the return of displaced persons to their homes.

Over recent months, the heavily-armed killer herdsmen have stepped up their attacks on farming communities, particularly in Nigeria's Middle Belt, killing hundreds as they ransack farming villages. This has forced thousands of people to flee their villages and seek refuge in internally displaced persons' camps.

Despite calls for robust action against the herdsmen, similar to the tough line taken against Boko Haram, Shiite Muslims and the Indigenous People of Biafra, the federal government has been loath to crackdown on them. Yesterday, Professor Soyinka warned that the federal government would be described as a total failure if it failed to stop the killings by the end of July.

Speaking during the inauguration of the 2018 OAU Ife Festival of Foods and Identity at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Professor Soyinka warned that Nigeria’s food security could be jeopardised by the rampant killings. He also pointed out that farmers are the most affected victims of the herdsmen and Boko Haram attacks.

Professor Soyinka said: “Our mission in life is to beat the sword into ploughshare. This means that machetes, hoes, the instruments of cultivation, planting and creating sustenance we must fashion out of the instruments of destruction and we must overcome the instruments of destruction.

“My message to all those who are concerned is that between the launching of this logo and festival today and the outward manifestation of the festival itself at the end of July, we should have seen signs that this battle between the sword and the ploughshare is reversed. Nigerians would be given fulfilment as a people of culture, peace and harmony, if the instruments of war and destruction are transformed into instruments of production and creativity.

“Between the annunciation of this festival and the manifestation of the festival itself, we want to see from this government a reversal of a seeming triumph of the gun and if that has not taken place, let us not lie to ourselves, it means we have no government. If those who had been displaced, the farmers who have been displaced in their hundreds from various parts of this nation, especially the north, if those farmers have not been taken back and restored to their productive environment, then it means we have no government."