While fielding questions during an open forum he tagged ‘Terms of Enslavement I: Holy Cows, Green Gods, and Law of Karma,’ Mr. Soyinka said Nigerians have been overloaded with problems arising due to leadership deficit.
“When I talk about the absence of leadership effect, let me give you an instance, when we started the Road Safety (also known as the Federal Road Safety Commission) movement and we began to clash with the military,” said Mr. Soyinka.
“The military at the time were the greatest killers on the road; they killed one another, they killed themselves, they killed civilians, and if you argue with them on the road you were given the ‘mud’ treatment or leap-frogging. And we took them up.”
Mr. Soyinka said the first stream of recruits into the FRSC were those who believed in the philosophy and the purpose of the organization.
“They were taught not to fear any soldier, and they fought the soldiers very often. I have trophies which were seized from soldiers in my house till today,” he said.
“And Obasanjo was the Head of State when Road Safety began on a national scale. We met one day and he said, ‘Hmmm, Wole, I hear you are fighting my men on the road, if they kill you, don’t come and complain o.’
“But he also did something, you know he’s not my favourite person but I always like to give credit where credit is due; Obasanjo also sent notices around to the military and said, ‘We set up, we encouraged, and we are backing this Road safety group…. From now, you fight any Road Safety on the street, when they are done with you, whatever the result is, you then come back and you eat military punishment.
“And the assault on Road safety – you know there was the volunteer as well as the uniformed – the assault virtually died on the road. Before that, it was a culture of assaults, they so despised the Road Safety…. anybody touching them, stopping them, disciplining them on the road is an anathema. Obasanjo stopped the assault. Make sure you print that so he can read it and see that I don’t hate him altogether. So that is what is lacking here.
“We have an ex-military leader, all he has to do, at least the first step even before convening any national summit… Pass the word round that any soldier seen molseting a civilian or any herdsman who attacks any civilian will be disciplined in such a way that he will wish he were a farmer.”
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