[Mhiz Rebecca]

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has criticized
President Muhammadu Buhari and Kaduna Governor,
Nasir El-Rufai, over how they were handling the
Southern Kaduna killings.
Speaking at the launch of the book “Religion and the
Making of Nigeria” in Abuja on Thursday, Soyinka
lambasted El-Rufai for admitting that he paid herdsmen
to stop the killings.
He said: “Religion in the history of this continent has
been a disastrous venture, a disaster in many zones
and continues to be even so today. In this very nation
in Southern Kaduna, over 800 souls were brutally
extinguished suddenly while the issue of grazing lands
versus farming is unquestionably part of the conflict, it
is equally undeniable that religious differences have
played crucial role in the conflict.
“And yet some weeks before the latest outrage, the
governor of that state was quoted to have claimed that
peace was nigh since he had sent funds to the earlier
wave of killers and they had agreed to end their killing
spree.
“What astonished me was not the admission by the
governor but the astonishment of others at such
governmental response to atrocity. There was nothing
new about it. Has appeasement to religious forces not
become a Nigerian face of justice and equity?
“First lethargy and then appeasement. Wasn’t Boko
Haram’s Muhammed Yusuf not a beneficiary of
appeasement in a similar fashion?
“Southern Kaduna has reminded us once again that the
monster always lying waiting to pounce under the guise
of religion.
“If you ask why General Buhari did not act fast enough
when these events take place, which degrade us as
human beings, well it is perhaps he has been waiting for
the governor of that state to send money to the killers
first for them to stop the killing.”
The Nigerian Army has already confirmed they have
sent special forces to restore peace and order in the
troubled parts of Kaduna.