Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, on Wednesday, lambasted the Nigerian government for its inefficiency in the fight against corruption in the country, saying many persons ought to be in jail if the system worked.
Soyinka noted that corruption cases involving some state governors over whom much evidence had already been gathered suddenly died down without any tangible reason.
The playwright stated this on an African Independent Television’s programme, Kakaaki, adding that the system had been so corrupted that cases were stretched out into silence by all kinds of technicalities.
He said, “There are so many people who should be in prison if this government had not run out of steam, and so the system is being manipulated.
“There are cases where the prosecution had reached the level where evidence had been given on governors who had been stealing and depositing in bits and pieces so as not to flout a certain regulation.
“I mean cases have been taken to that level and suddenly, silence.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which I backed solidly ever since the days of (Nuhu) Ribadu, in all kinds of ways; we no longer can distinguish from right and left.”
Asked whether the National Assembly, dominated by the All Progressives Congress, was not putting enough pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari, he said NASS had a lot of work to do in its relationship with the President.
However, Soyinka said the desire of some lawmakers for committee positions “where I think all the goodies are shared” has made them compromise.
He added, “It is the responsibility of the constituency to remind them of these derelictions; these failures to come up to scratch as expected when they come round next for elections.”
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