Why I Rejected The Centenary Awards - Soyinka Opens Up

100 persons were honoured with Centenary awards by the Federal Government as part of Nigeria's Centenary celebration. Professor Soyinka who was among the 100 rejected the award as the late Nigerian tyrant, General Sani Abacha and other known killers and looters of Nigeria's treasury were also on the list. In a rejection note headlined "The Canonisation of Terror", Soyinka observed that the inclusion of Abacha on the list does not only show a failure of a moral rigour but it calls into question "the entire ethical landscape into which this nation has been forced by insensate leadership". According to Soyinka, Abacha's regime was known for assassinations, torture and other forms of barbarism. An elected president and his wife, M.K.O and Kudirat Abiola were snuffed out by Abacha as well as nine Nigerian citizens, including the writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa, were hanged after a trial that was stomach churning. "We are speaking here of a man who placed this nation under siege during an unrelenting reign of terror that is barely different from the current rampage of Boko Haram. It is this very psychopath that was recently canonised by the government of Goodluck Jonathan in commemoration of one hundred years of Nigerian trauma. "What the government of Goodluck Jonathan has done is to scoop up a century's accumulated degeneracy in one pre-eminent symbol, then place it on a podium for the nation to admire, emulate and even-worship." "There is a deplorable message for coming generations in this governance aberration that the entire world has been summoned to witness and indeed to celebrate. The insertion of an embodiment of governance of terror into the company of committed democrats, professionals, humanists and human rights advocates in their own right, is a sordid effort to grant a certificate of health to a communicable disease that common sense demands should be isolated. It is a confidence trick that speaks volumes of the perpetrators of such a fraud,"Soyinka said.

World Leaders Arrive In Abuja For Nigeria's Centenary Celebration.

More than 12 Heads of State arrived at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s (today) centenary, the News Agency of Nigeriareports. The visiting Heads of State were received at the airport by some members of the Federal Executive Council. Those that were received at the airport include Presidents Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia; Paul Kagame of Rwanda; Yahya Jammeh of Gambia and Prosper Bazombaza of Burundi. President Helen Sirleaf of Liberia and the former Secretary-General of Organisation for African Union, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, who led the Tanzanian delegation, also arrived in Abuja on Wednesday for the celebration. Also arrived in Abuja were the President of Mauritania, Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz; Ethiopian President, Mr. Hailemarian Desalegh; and the European Union President, Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso. The Zambian Minister of Defence, Mr. Edgar Lungu, will represent the Zambian President, Micheal Saata. Israel is also being represented by its Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Yair Shamir. An official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who did not want to be mentioned, toldNANthat 42 Heads of State were being expected to attend the celebration. (NAN)