By David Torough, Abuja

Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka yesterday criticised President Bola Tinubu saying the president’s nationwide address failed to address the attacks on #EndBadGovernance protesters by security agencies.

Reports across the country indicate that at least 21 people lost their lives but Tinubu said the protesters had a political agenda and were out to undermine his government.

Many Nigerians had called on Tinubu to douse tension by addressing the country.

The president, in a 38-paragraph speech yesterday did not dwell on the 12 demands of citizens.

Rather, he reeled out his achievements in office and warned that government would deal with mischief makers.

Soyinka reacted to the speech in a statement saying, “I set my alarm clock for this morning to ensure that I did not miss President Bola Tinubu’s impatiently awaited address to the nation on the current unrest across the nation.

“His outline of government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis.

“My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.

“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals. 

“Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest.

“Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S., not peculiar to the Nigerian nation. They belong indeed in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblazoned on posters.

“They serve as summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation.

“The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests.

“It evokes pre-independence – that is, colonial – acts of disdain, a passage that induced the late stage pioneer Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera Bread and Bullets, earning that nationalist serial persecution and proscription by the colonial government.

“Security agencies cannot pretend unawareness of alternative models for emulation, civilized advances in security intervention.

“Need we recall the nationwide 2022/23 editions of what is generally known as the Yellow Vest movement in France?

“Perhaps it is time to make such scenarios compulsory viewing in policing curriculum. In all of the coverage that I watched, I did not catch one single instance of a gun leveled at protesters, much less fired at them even during direct physical confrontations.

“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves – a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.”

Soyinka who visited Tinubu in December appeared to have become an ally of government.

“I came to see him to find out how he is doing after neglecting my advice. I wanted to see how he and his wife are faring. I also came to wish them a merry Christmas,” he said after seeing Tinubu in the State House, Abuja.

Similarly, organisers of the #Endbadgovernance protest in Osun State said Tinubu did not address any of their concerns.

Speaking on Day 4 of the protest at Freedom Park in Osogbo yesterday, the Coordinator, Coalition of Concern Nigeria Citizens, Adetunji said the group would meet to discuss the way forward as the president did not address any of their concerns.

He said, “Our protest is not a one-man show, especially as Osun’s case is concerned. Regarding the President Bola Tinubu’s address this morning, he did not address any of our concerns.

“The president was not specific on what the government will do to address the demands of the youth. The president’s call for dialogue is an open-end appeal, which does not have a clear indicator on what will be done.”

Also, Comrade Emmanuel Olowu, Secretary, Osun Coalition of Civil Societies, which is also part of the protest said the president’s appeal for end and embrace dialogue would be discussed at a meeting of the various groups.

It is a movement for Nigerians which we are leading but the people would eventually decide in which direction the protest would move going forward,” he said.

The #EndBadGovernance protest continues today.