Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka
has replied Rivers State government over allegations that former Governor of
the State and now minister in FRN, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi spent a whooping
N82m to host him in a dinner. Read below his reply contained in a letter…
“This morning, I saw only the by-lines in one or two print
media regarding the 80th Birthday dinner to which I was hosted by the former
governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amechi, now Minister of Transportation. I
ignored them. It was not, and remains not my business to probe into the
catering and logistical implications of the hundreds of institutions and
governments all over the world to whom I acknowledge an immense debt of
unsolicited recognition over the years.
“Since then however, I have learnt
of some unsavoury statements by the insecure incumbent of the Rivers State
Government Lodge. These included a loose invitation to anti-crime agencies to
investigate the potential crime of being honoured through any occasion.
“The unprecedented call by this
governor is prescient of a warning I recounted in my recent pamphlet
publication the republic of liars, and was taken from my address to an
anti-corruption global conference that took place in Tunisia two years ago.
Those words were: corruption strikes back.
In this ongoing instance, that expression translates most vividly as
‘Those who are neck-deep in the sewage of corruption ensure that they splatter
sewage in all possible and improbable directions’.
“I do however fully support the
Wikeleaks call for multi-directional probes. I recommend further that he
involve the services of INTERPOL to guarantee its extension to all
international organisations and governments to whom I owe uncountable events of
recognition – including birthday luncheons, dinners, cultural receptions and
events of real, fictitious, or simply opportunistic flavoring – to which I have
submitted myself.
“The descent to this present level
of abominable distractions makes one truly despair. It is one that even I did
not envisage when I warned – corruption strikes back! Whether it brings honour
or dishonour to the nation is another matter – I am saddened, but indifferent.
“EFCC and company – over to you! You
all know where I live.”
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