{"id":3447,"date":"2014-12-03T09:58:29","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T09:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=3447"},"modified":"2014-12-03T09:58:29","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T09:58:29","slug":"presidency-replies-soyinka-for-likening-jonathan-to-nebuchadnezzar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=3447","title":{"rendered":"Presidency Replies Soyinka For Likening Jonathan To Nebuchadnezzar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"7487\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Presidency has replied Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on the comments he made against President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday at a press briefing.<\/p>\n

The Nobel Laureate\u200e on Tuesday blasted President Goodluck Jonathan for endorsing and encouraging the reign of \u200eimpunity in Nigeria even as the country traverses difficult times.<\/p>\n

Prof. Wole Soyinka\u00a0had during a press conference in Lagos while giving a speech titled \u201cKing Nebuchadnezzar \u2013 The Reign of Impunity\u201d criticized\u00a0the government of President Goodluck Jonathan\u00a0comparing him to biblical tyrant,\u00a0King Nebuchadnezzar. He also condemned Jonathan for encouraging a reign of impunity, using the recent police invasion of the National Assembly complex as an example.<\/p>\n

In his words, \u201cI shall not insist that the biblical figure of Nebuchadnezzar is uniquely apt for the pivotal figure of the \u2018democratic\u2019 history in the making at this moment,\u201d\u00a0Soyinka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor one thing, Nebu was a nation builder and a warrior. One could argue even more convincingly for the figure of Balthazar, his successor, or indeed Emperor Nero as reference point \u2013 you all remember him \u2013 the emperor who took to fiddling while Rome was burning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever you should easily recall why I opted for King Nebu \u2013 the figure that currently sits on the top of our political pile himself evoked it, albeit in a context that virtuously disclaimed any similarities, even tendencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps he meant it at the time when he claimed: \u2018I am no Nebuchadnezzar.\u2019 Perhaps not. One judges leaders on acts however, not pronouncements, which are often as reliable as electoral promises,\u00a0\u201cSoyinka added<\/p>\n

\u201cThat a national leader should go campaigning on the platform of ethnic support at a time when priorities dictate a United national engagement for survival, is a grotesque undertaking,\u201d Soyinka said, referring to Jonathan\u2019s visit at the Obafemi Awolowo University last week.<\/p>\n

Jonathan has continued to degrade the political system by endorsing lawlessness and supporting lawless appointees, not minding the chaos Nigeria is going through, Soyinka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is more unworthy of leadership than to degrade the system by which one attains fulfilment, and this is what the nation has witnessed time and time again in various parts of the nation, the recent affront against the legislative chamber being only the most blatant and unconscionable, \u201d Soyinka added.<\/p>\n

However the Presidency, represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, swiftly responded to Soyinka\u2019s comments and accused him of \u201cplaying the Ostrich.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okupe said,“<\/em>It is quite saddening to note that Prof Wole had become so close to the opposition party so much that he has stopped giving appreciable and unbiased contribution to national topics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur eminent professor also sadly plays the ostrich as he failed to reprimand Governor Amaechi, who is the \u2018national champion of impunity and official recklessness\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe administration of President Goodluck Jonathan prides itself as the most liberal, keeping faith with adherence to rule of law and tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okupe also stressed that it was interesting that Soyinka had chosen to ignore what he termed the immoral, indefensible and unlawful attitude of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, after his defection.<\/p>\n

He then accused Professor Soyinka of maligning the Inspector General of Police who he said only discharged his lawful duties.<\/p>\n

It will be recalled that President Jonathan has recently also been criticized by former President,\u00a0Olusegun Obasanjo\u00a0who accused him of destroying Nigeria\u2019s democracy with his evil actions\u00a0while also comparing him to late military dictator,\u00a0Sani Abacha.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Presidency has replied Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on the comments he made against President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday at a press briefing. The Nobel Laureate\u200e on Tuesday blasted President Goodluck Jonathan for endorsing and encouraging the reign of \u200eimpunity in Nigeria even as the country traverses difficult times. Prof. Wole Soyinka\u00a0had during a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/7487.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-TB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3449,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3447\/revisions\/3449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}