The commissioner for information and communication, Rivers State. Dr. Austin Tam- George wrote Prof. Wole Soyinka’s reaction to the scandal of the 82 Million Naira dinner held in his honour by the Rotimi Amaechi government in Rivers State is at once disappointing and depressing. Soyinka has said he didn't know about the cost of a party held in his name, in a State where 90 per cent of the people live in insufferable poverty. But now that official documents show the cost of his three-hour dinner, where is his moral outrage?
Why does his statement not include a condemnation of such unconscionable misuse of public funds in his name?
In a country full of villainy, Soyinka is often held up as a moral titan. The Nobel Laureate cements this perception by conducting himself in the manner of someone who suffers from a god complex, someone who does no wrong.
But Soyinka’s unbridled support for Rotimi Amaechi invites close moral scrutiny.
Rivers State is reeling from the catastrophic legacy of the Amaechi years. Despite receiving over 3 trillion naira in revenue in 8 years, Amaechi left the most abandoned projects in the history of Rivers State, since 1967.
Thousands of workers went without their salaries for 4 months, aged pensioners faced starvation without their pensions for 8 months, and the salaries of thousands of teachers were not paid for nearly 12 months.
Everywhere you looked in Amaechi’s Rivers State; there was this stark, almost synonymic connection between poor governance, corruption and fiction.
A physical tour of the Greater Port Harcourt City in Rivers State on which Amaechi had spent over one hundred billion Naira, revealed only a putrid landscape of corruption, broken dreams and wasted resources"
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Prof. Wole Soyinka, as a man of seemingly impeccable character at a time seem not to get the detail of the cost of a dinner having becomes an icon of principles yet within his power to honour or reject. Matters of this magnitude should be dealt and given the attention it needed.
Dr. Wole Soyinka added this "“I do however fully support the Wike leaks 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" he concluded.
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