Soyinka says preachers responsible for violence in Nigeria

– Nigeria is currently battling a number of violent groups including the Boko Haram, militants and other agitators
– Professor Wole Soyinka , while speaking at the University of Benin, advised government on the next line of action to take
Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has advocated for stiff punishment for religious leaders caught preaching hate messages.
Imams, district and ward heads at an Emergency meeting summoned by Governor Kashim Shettima at the Government House, Maiduguri, recently
Soyinka, who spoke at the University of Benin, Edo state, attributed the high- scale violence experienced in many parts of the country partly to what people hear from their religious leaders.
Daily Trust reports that while delivering a lecture titled: ‘Culture at risk’ at 2nd Eminent Lecture series organised by the university, the litrary icon said some preachers engaged in messages that encourage religious intolerance
According to him, the bombing and killing of innocent citizens in parts of Nigeria are a result of what people have heard from their religious leaders and made to believe.
He said the destruction of mosques, churches, shrines and ancient monuments are all products of religious intolerance in the country.
For some years, Nigeria has been battling Boko Haram in the north-eastern part of the country just as Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states have become the faces of militant activities with the result being destruction of government installations.
In the eastern part of the country, various groups, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), have continued with agitation for secession.
Currently, Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB has remained in detention refusing to negotiate with the federal government.
Soyinka said: “My view is that, we can complain, we can proffer, we can condemn, as much as we want, until those who are guilty, even by curious liability, when a murder is committed are brought to book and made to apologize to the whole nation, and face penalty, such will not stop.”