Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has
challenged former President, Olusegun Obasanjo to swear by this nation
that he never awarded oil blocks in return for sexual gratification
during his reign at the helm of affairs of the country.
Soyinka spoke in his Interventions VIII series, titled: ‘Quis Custodiet
Ipsos Custodes?’ meaning “Gani’s Unfinished Business,” launched recently
in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
He said Obasanjo knew him so well that he did not make accusations lightly and that he despise snide insinuations.
In his words: “I now challenge you (Obasanjo) to search your soul, very
deeply, and swear to this nation that you never awarded oil blocks in
return for sexual gratification. I do not make accusations lightly and I
despise snide insinuations. I believe you know me well enough. And I am
no prude, I am not a hypocrite of sexual desire, nor am I interested in
the seamy side of Power. Take your time, think deeply and remember that
each day brings you closer and closer to your Maker and the Day of
Judgment-going by your own professions.”
Soyinka said sex-for-grades as a solution to that burdensome energy
seemed to have become the practice, saying that even when Donald Trump
and Bill Clinton were accused of sexual misconduct, no one ever accused
Trump of using his nation’s assets for a romp on the presidential desk
of the oval office and that not even Clinton who nearly lost his office
through Monica Lewinsky, was ever accused of passing off any of the
White House heirlooms, or influenced contracts in return for sexual
favour.
“If I denounce you (Obasanjo) as a degenerate in need of help, remember
that I do not require fiction. Verifiable truth is solemnly at my
disposal. I do not concoct a thousand snipers for a thousand listed
enemies of governance-one of the most impudent egregious fantasies ever
manufactured by a former ruler, simply to destroy a successor and
persuade oneself that one is a maker and breaker of governments,” he
said.
Soyinka also said that during Obasanjo’s celebration of the 10th
anniversary of his Presidential library, the former president accused
him of blocking his ambitions to become the Secretary General of the
United Nations.
According to Soyinka, “could someone please stop crediting me with that
level of international clouts? Of course, I feel totally content and
fulfilled with my contribution to that operation to ‘save our world’
from the clutches of a predator, sadist and liar-convincing evidence of
which we provided in our successful diplomatic offensive-but the umbrage
should also go to that very Femi Falana and the late Beko Ransome-Kuti,
with whom I worked in close collaboration.”
Soyinka also said that under Obasanjo’s watch, and with proven
collaboration, an elected governor was kidnapped, locked in a toilet and
held there under duress to force him to sign cheques on the state
treasury, saying that “he escaped confinement, thanks to a sympathetic
policeman , but the state went up in flames. The state radio and
television houses were torched. The House of Assembly and the law
courts-my own special preserve-were vandalized. Who did you say was
President at that time?”
Soyinka made reference to a letter written to Obasanjo by Col. Abubakar
Umar, in which the former military governor accused Obasanjo of awarding
oil block indiscriminately and illegally.
In that letter, quoted by Soyinka in the book, Umar said the allocation
of oil blocks was preceded by the usual Obasanjo deceptive maneuvers
intending to give the process some semblance of credibility, saying that
the real allocations were concluded long before the blocks were
advertised.
“Some of the oil blocks that were allocated by previous administrations
and which were found to be highly productive were revoked and
reallocated to preferred bidders on the flimsiest of reasons. Over 70%
of all oil blocks allocated by the Obasanjo administration were cornered
by him and his business associates through this dubious process,”
Soyinka quoted Umar in the letter.
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