End killings, casual butchery - Wole Soyinka tasks Tinubu

Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has directly called upon President Bola Tinubu to halt all forms of killings perpetrated by state actors in Nigeria. Soyinka condemned the ongoing violence, describing it as "casual butchery," and pointed to the silence of residents as a factor that exacerbates the situation.

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Today is dedicated to the 18 Ughelli residents butchered by state agencies for no reason at all, simply for minding their own business; to the young man shot dead in broad daylight by a policeman while under suspicion; and to Deborah, the youth hunted through the city by her own classmates, necklaced and set ablaze.

During the 28th Wole Soyinka Lectures in Port Harcourt, themed “Reclaiming the Nigerian State through Accountability, Justice and Civic Courage,” Soyinka dedicated his address to victims of Nigeria’s extrajudicial killings and state excesses. He declared that the nation's most significant failure lies not only in the murders themselves but also in the collective silence that allows the perpetrators to evade justice.

Soyinka cited harrowing examples, including the killing of 18 residents in Ughelli for "no reason at all," a young man shot by police, and the brutal murder of Deborah by her classmates. He criticized the justice system's failure, noting that the killers of Deborah could openly display the match used to set her ablaze without consequence. He dismissed critics who accuse him of inciting religious conflict, asserting that such discussions are vital to remind Nigerians of the paramount importance of human life.

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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.’ And there the system of justice fails us completely.

Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, addressed the systemic issues within Nigeria's justice and correctional system. He revealed that 64 percent of inmates in custodial centers, numbering over 50,000 Nigerians, are awaiting trial without conviction. Chidoka described these prolonged delays as a form of violence inflicted by the state, leading to lost liberty, broken families, and deteriorating health for those incarcerated.

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Each of these 50,000 is a life in suspension, a job lost, a family destabilised, someone’s health failings. When the state causes that delay, and the citizens pay for it in lost liberty. The delay is not inefficiency, It is a form of violence carried out by the state itself.