Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka has described the current state of the nation as a raging war between the forces of good and evil. According to him, the killings of the students at Mubi and the brutal murder of the University of Port Harcourt /Aluu 4 was evil at work, trying to wipe away every source of enlightenment and creativity. he said that Nigerians should not give in to the forces of evil that are threatening to pull down the nation.
Professor Wole Soyinka gave this speech at the presentation of Port Harcourt as the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2014. He urged the literary writers in the country not to see themselves as mere writers but as part of the forces which is fighting for the survival of enlightenment and creativity. In his words:
“I believe quite frankly this country is at war; the war is between the forces of darkness and the forces of light, the forces of intellect, the forces of rationality and the forces of atavism, retrograde thinking, the forces of hatred against humanism.
“I believe that if we surrender to these banal forces in our society, we cease to be human beings because we succumb completely to fear and it is the same message we must take to those in this nation, who believe that books are wrong.
“I don’t care whether they call themselves the final defenders of the pure road and the ultimate salvation or call themselves Boko Haram.
“Boko Haram and all organisations, all movements that wage war against books, against literacy, against education and enlightenment in any form have declared war, not on the state, but on humanity itself and in spite of such setbacks, in spite of such horrors, we have the responsibility to support and to sustain efforts such as being made by the Rainbow Club and allied societies and organisations.”
source: Punch News
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