Soyinka Expresses Fear Of Nigeria Break Up Over Boko Haram Massacre

Nigerian Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, on Wednesday said that Nigeria is likely to break up following the massacre of thousands of innocent citizens in the hands of members of the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram. 

The Nobel Laureate, who made this known to Reuters at his Abeokuta residence, Ogun State, said the only way to stop the impending break up from happening is through enhanced unity between Muslims and Christians.

* 1986 Nobel Prize Winner (Literature) Wole Soyinka 
Speaking further, he reiterated that Nigeria is undergoing a higher massacre in the hands of Islamists when compared to what happened during the country's Civil War.

"The bloodshed is now worse than during the 1967-70 Civil War when a secessionist attempt by the Eastern region nearly tore the country into ethnic regions," he said.
According to him, the horrors caused by the sect had shown Nigerians that unity might be the only way to avoid even greater sectarian slaughter.

"We have never been confronted with butchery on this scale, even during the civil war. There were atrocities during the war, but we never had such a near predictable level of carnage and this is what is horrifying," Soyinka said. 

 

Boko Haram, which means 'western education is a sin' in Hausa language, was designated as a terrorist group by the US government in 2013. It was founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf, an Islamic scholar. The terrorist group has launched several offensives which have left scores of people dead. The Islamist sect which stands against Westernisation launched its first military operations in 2009 in an attempt to create an Islamic state.

 

On Tuesday July 1, 2014 a former United State’s Assistant Secretary of States, James Rubin, accused the Federal Government of playing with various approaches aimed at putting an end to the activities of the deadly group.

However, the Federal Government on its part has kept hampering that the sect's activities would soon be brought to a halt. On Tuesday July 1, 2014, the Coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mike Omeri, boasted that the Federal Government has more sophisticated weapons that can be used to fight the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram, adding that the Nigerian army was well trained to curb the sect. On the same day, two bombs went off in two northern states of Borno and Kaduna, leaving scores of innocent Nigerians dead with several others injured, showing that the Islamists had continued to carry out their attacks at wherever pleases them.