By Abiola Olawale
Nobel prize winner and playwright, Professor Wole Soyinka on Monday finally spoke on an attack on Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah over his Christmas message and the much furore it has generated in the country.
Soyinka said he was worried that the Muslim Solidarity Forum (MSF) has threatened to send Kukah out of his ‘Capitol’ in Sokoto.
In a statement he released on Monday, the renowned playwright said, “Father Kukah’s New Year address, whai is bothersome, even unwholesome, is the embedded threat to storm his ‘capitol’ and eject him, simply for ‘speaking in tongues’. Any pluralistic society must emphatically declare such a response unacceptable. On a personal note, I have studied the transcript as reported in the media and found nothing in it that denigrates Islam but then, I must confess, I am not among the most religion besotted inhabitants of the globe.”
Soyinka blamed the attack on Kukah by the Muslim group on the religionist nature of human beings.
“We need only remark that all religions are plagued by a lunatic fringe. In this nation we have learnt the painful way what such inbred loonies are capable of.” Soyinka stated.
He argued that many believers of religions all around the world nurture insecurities, such that if any statement is made as regard a person or a person’s religion, the individual is forced to conclude and feel the need to be offended.
He explained that the Muslim group felt offended because of their religionist nature as there was no word that denigrated Islam in Kukah’s message.
Soyinka said, “One of the ironic features of religionist is, one is forced to conclude, a need to be offended. It is as if religion cannot exist unless it is nourished with the broth of offence. This may be due to an inbuilt insecurity, a fear that even the ascribed absolutes of faith may be founded on nothing more than idealistic human projections, not grounded in anything durable or immutable.”
The Nobel Laureate also warned that if these extremist instigations are not nip in the bud, they could fuel uncontrollable destructions in the country.
He said, “Hence the over prickliness, aggressiveness, sometimes even bullying tendencies and imperious posturing. This leads to finding enemies where there are none. In certain social climates, it degenerates into inventing enmities in order to entrench theocratic power.”
It would be recalled that Kukah’s Christmas message raised the eyebrows of MSF and some Islamic groups.
The MSF felt Kukah denigrated Islam in his message, and as a result requested for an apology or he leaves Sokoto, where he resides.
Following the threats, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has backed Kukah and warned that the Muslim group must not put Bishop in harm’s way.
Also, the presidency has waded in, cautioning the Islamic group against the quit notice it issued to the Catholic Bishop. The presidency said Kukah like every other Nigerian has the constitutional right to reside anywhere in the country.
It would be recalled also that Soyinka, 86, is a Nigerian playwright, poet and essayist in English Language. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first sub-Saharan African to be honoured in that category. Among his notable works are, Death and the King’s Horseman, The Lion and the Jewel, Madmen.
