CURB YOUR WIFE'S EXCESSES - SOYINKA TELLS JONATHAN

The political crisis in Rivers state heightened last week with five
anti-Amaechi lawmakers attempting to remove the speaker, Otelemaba
Amachree. The situation has understandably, elicited various reactions
even assuch are warped along the lines of the principal actors
involved in the fracas that has again, thrown up many issues.
For Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, President Goodluck
Jonathan has a duty to call his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan to order....

According to therespected professor, Mrs Jonathan's over-bearing
attitude is responsible for the Rivers crisis. But to a nation's First
Lady in whose reckoning, an iota of ego has been undone, Soyinka's
conclusion should not only be disregarded. She says the professor's
position posits an embarrassment to Nigeria
As the political crisis in Rivers State continues to elicit comments,
Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has called on President Goodluck
Jonathan to call his wife, Patience, to order.
He said the crisis is eroding democratic grounds in the country.
Soyinka, who took a swipe at the First Lady, for her alleged
overbearing tendencies, spoke his mind during his State of the Nation
address in Lagos.
He said though the Presidency has tried to absolve Jonathan from the
crisis, "the perception out there in the world is that he bears a
vicarious liability in the crisis".
Besides, he said the indifference exhibited by the President creates
an enabling environment for his followers to act on his behalf.
Referring to events during the 11th Century, he said: "What I want to
do here is to remind you of a certain historic figure.
"I am sure most of us here must be familiar with Thomas Becket, who
was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 11th Century, who was murdered at
the altar by four Knights of King Henry II.
"Now, I have read on the pages of newspapers and watched on television
that the President's spokesmen have been trying to distance him
(President) from what is happening in Rivers State.
"They are doing their job and I wish them well, but they have to
understand that the President has to understand the perception out
there in the world, is that he bears a lot of responsibility for what
is happening in Rivers State."
Drawing a parallel, the Nobel Laureate said: "My reference to Thomas
Becketwas this: the absolute Monarchism that obtained at that time,
was that King Henry II saw that Thomas Becket was becoming too
influential and what he said was that: will no one rid me of this
pestilence?
"What happened after that was that four knights of the courts went and
attacked the Archbishop at the Cathedral. Historically now, we have
five operators carrying out the imaginary will of the absolute
monarchy, again another parallelism. Again, I have been asking myself:
are we not tilting towards absolute monarch?
"There are many ways of saying: will no one rid me of this pestilence
in RiversState?
"You don't have to utter a word directly but from your conduct which
can convey very strong signals or better still, say I will come after
you," Soyinka said.
While stating that he was not casting aspersions on any individual,
Soyinka said, "but I am saying that one can establish certain conducts
in the mind of one's followers, all of which circle around impunity.
There are certain ways you can convince your followers, your
officials, and your cohorts that they can act with impunity.
"There are many ways, for instance, you can expose a prey and say:
that prey is available. Let us go back to that historical story about
11 centuries ago, I want you to imagine King Henry saying: find some
way of making the Archbishop's carriage unserviceable or the carriage
maker makes the carriage grounded. Even after the king's counsel said
this is unfair and that the Archbishop's carriage should be released.
"I hope you see the parallelism. I am yet to see a parallelism where
the governor's plane, under dubious circumstances, has been grounded,
for I don'tknow how many weeks now. And so, they pretend, nobody has
spoken, nobody said anything in how one of your Barons or Dukes can
function without a carriage. Now that kind of indifference can create
an enabling ground for your followers or officials to take further
actions, which can endanger that Baron or that Duke.
"I am using this parallel so that we can understand that something
strange is going on." The Nobel Laureate said it is unfortunate that a
mere domestic appendage of power could go to a state and take over the
state for 11 days. " A queen goes to the archbishop's domain, stays 11
days. And the Baron is not even allowed to move, creating an enabling
environment for that Baron to be dealt with. He is stopped by a
sheriff and that Baron is responsible for security and governance."
Then the bombshell:
"I am calling on the President; please, curb the excesses of your
wife. Too much is too much. Is she the first First Lady we have had?
She is now being used to abuse the authority of an elected governor.