By Davies Iheamnachor
Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has called on President Bola Tinubu to end all forms of extrajudicial killings by State actors, adding that the silence of residents also worsen the situation.
This was as Soyinka dedicated his 2026 public lecture to the victims of Nigeria’s extrajudicial killings and state excesses, declaring that the nation’s greatest failure is not only the murders but the collective silence that allows killers to walk free.
Soyinka, who made the remarks at the 28th Wole Soyinka Lectures which held in Port Harcourt with the theme “Reclaiming the Nigerian State through Accountability, Justice and Civic Courage” noted that the inactions of the masses towards State excesses fuels more human right abuses and infringements.
Through his remarks, he said, he was paying honour to those who had lost their lives because of the state’s deficiencies which has led to the devaluation of human life.
He said: “Today is dedicated to the 18 Ughelli residents butchered by state agencies for no reason at all, simply for minding their own business; to the young man shot dead in broad daylight by a policeman while under suspicion; and to Deborah, the youth hunted through the city by her own classmates, necklaced and set ablaze.
“The crime is the silence of the rest of us, that such a thing is possible and that the killers of that girl can actually go on television, hold up a match and say, ‘This is the match with which I set her on fire.’ And there the system of justice fails us completely.”
Soyinka dismissed critics who accused him of stoking religious conflict whenever he highlights such cases of abuses, noting that sessions like that in Port Harcourt are vital, precisely, to remind Nigerians that the human unit is the least common denominator and the most important element of the community.
He called on citizens to keep watch with him over the case of the policeman who shot the young man in the South, and to demand that the justice system not fail again.
In his keynote address, Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, argued that justice for most Nigerians starts long even before any courtroom.
Chidoka said justice starts when police officers decide when a complaint is believed or ignored based on merit and not on external factors.
While Citing the wrongs in the Nigerian justice and correctional System, Chidoka revealed that 64 per cent of inmates in custodial centres including more than 50,000 Nigerians are awaiting trial and have not been convicted of any crime.
He said: “Each of these 50,000 is a life in suspension, a job lost, a family destabilised, someone’s health failings. When the state causes that delay, and the citizens pay for it in lost liberty. The delay is not inefficiency, It is a form of violence carried out by the state itself.”
The Former Minister insisted that true justice, means the rules do not change with a citizen’s identity and prosecution of individuals must follow evidence while those in detention must remain visible to their lawyers.
He said: “A citizen who defeats government in court must not face a second battle to compel obedience. Justice is also tested by how society treats those it dislikes. The law is not established when it protects only our friends, Justice must defends the accused, the unpopular, the political opponent, and the minority, because citizenship does not depend on agreement. Where justice is negotiable, citizenship becomes hierarchical.” he added.
Earlier in his opening remarks, The chairman of the occasion and Former Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission, Chief Timi Alaibe, while drawing from his years in public service said sustainable development cannot exist where accountability is absent.
Alaibe urged participants from government, the private sector, academia and civil society to resist treating the 28th Wole Soyinka Lectures as another ceremonial event. Instead, he called for honest reflection and renewed commitment to rebuilding the nation.
He said: “Nations are not reclaimed by rhetoric alone, they are reclaimed when conscience triumphs over confidence. When institutions are stronger than individuals. When citizens summon the courage to do what is right, even when it is difficult.”
Vanguard News
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