Manipulating judiciary will lead to chaos – Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka

NOBEL laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has urged politicians to desist from manipulating the judiciary to prevent a state of anarchy in the country.

Soyinka explained that though the judiciary was making headway in reforms, there was still the need to tackle some dark areas in the sector.

The literary giant, who spoke with reporters on Monday in Port Harcourt, pointed out that such dark areas had created the political crisis rocking the state.

Soyinka was in the state to mark the emergence of Port Harcourt as the 2014 World Book Capital.

Decrying pettiness in governance, the Nobel laureate urged politicians and those in authority to pay attention always to issues that affect the people instead of focusing on inconsequential things.

He said, “The judiciary right now, while it is trying to reform itself, we recognise that there are still some dark areas, such areas appear to have created the political crisis in the state.

“I think pettiness at any level is unbecoming of any democratic situation. That is all I want to say about that. I see that I cannot escape all what is going on. I have also put some questions myself, I mean, obviously, I am a citizen of this nation. So, I am affected personally by what is happening at the opposite end of the nation.

“I am very much concerned about the imbroglio in which the state (Rivers State) appears to be involved at the moment and my main comment is for heaven’s sake, whatever happens internally between parties and so on, please do not debase and do not manipulate the judiciary.

“That is my appeal to governance at all levels. Please do not manipulate the judiciary because when you do, you have chaos, you have total anarchy, you reduce the nation to a space of complete breakdown of law and order, which is what this nation had better avoid.”

Soyinka, however, congratulated the government and people of the state on the emergence of Port Harcourt as the World Book Capital.

He expressed the need to use knowledge to fight the forces of retrogression, violent negativist as represented by members of the Boko Haram sect.

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