Skip to main content

Presidency Replies Soyinka, Says Buhari inherited Terribly Divided Country From Good luck

 


Femi Adesina, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that the President inherited a terribly divided country from his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, in 2015.

Speaking during a Channels TV programme on Wednesday, Adesina described Nigeria as an inconvenient amalgamation, which has always been divided.

This was a reaction to  comments made by Wole Soyinka, playwright and Nobel laureate, who said that Nigeria was more divided than ever before.

He said in a country of 200 million people, it would be impossible for everyone to agree and perceive things the same way.

 “Nigeria had always been divided right from amalgamation in 1914. Nigeria is an inconvenient amalgamation but we have kept at it and we have worked at it.

“And I tell you that there is no time in the history of this country that the country was not divided. But then, we have kept at it and we are trying to make it work.

“As at 2015 when President Buhari came, Nigeria was terribly divided; divided along ethnic, religious and political lines; divided along language; divided hopelessly and terribly.”

The President’s aide said in 2015, Soyinka did not support Buhari but only tagged him as slightly better than Jonathan.

As regards criticisms fired at Buhari by Obasanjo, Adesina said it seemed the former President was still upset that Buhari won the election despite his opposition to his bid to run for a second term.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Biden Announces Purchase Of 200M Vaccine Doses

  President Joe Biden announced a series of measures on Tuesday aimed at ramping up coronavirus vaccine allocation and distribution, including the purchase of 200 million more vaccine doses and increased distribution to states by millions of doses next week. With those additional doses, Biden said there would be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans -- nearly the entire US population -- by the end of summer or early fall. He described efforts to combat Covid-19 as a "wartime undertaking." We now have a national strategy to beat Covid-19. It's comprehensive. It's based on science, not politics. It's based on truth, not denial, and it is detailed," he said. As part of the new efforts announced Tuesday, the US will buy 100 million more doses from Pfizer/BioNTech and 100 million more from Moderna -- the two-dose vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer and Moderna are working to step up p...

EndSARS: Protesters In New York Want SARS Operatives Sacked

 Hundreds of young anti-SARS protesters on Sunday stormed the Nigeria House in New York demanding transparency in the disbandment of the police unit back home. The protesters said operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad found wanting should be sacked and not redeployed. Among them was Stephen “Papi” Ojo, the artist, model, and choreographer who stole the show as the ‘blue-guy’ in Beyoncé’s “Already” music video. The protest started shortly after the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced the dissolution of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Adamu also announced plans for a new arrangement to address anticipated policing gaps following the disbandment, and the constitution of an investigative team to probe the alleged cases of rights violations, among others. But the protesters, who bore placards with different inscriptions including, “We no want audio ban”, said they were not buying it. They argued that previous commitments announced by the force to change...

Police Arrest 20, Rescue More Victims After Killing Of 22 Travellers In Plateau

The Plateau State Police Command has arrested 20 suspects in connection with a recent deadly attack on travellers in Jos, the state capital.  On Saturday, several travellers were attacked and killed by gunmen in the Jos North Local Government Area of the state. The travellers were reportedly passing through Jos when they ran into gunmen who opened fire on them. In a statement issued on Sunday by the force spokesperson, Frank Mba, the police have arrested 20 suspects while about 33 victims have been rescued.  Mba also stated that the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has ordered the deployment of Police Intervention Team to Plateau State to carry out on-the-spot assessment.  This, he said, is to ensure an enhanced, coordinated response to protect the community and boost public confidence in the affected area of the state.  The statement read partly, “ The Police Intervention Team is led by DIG Sanusi N. Lemu, mni, the Deputy Inspector General of Poli...