The Pledge 
…Says Buhari’s Govt Has Run Out Of Steam To Tackle Corruption
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has urged the National Assembly to listen to the calls for the restructuring of Nigeria and take responsibility for the effect.
He said the National Assembly has the powers and moral authority to respond to the calls if the Presidency is not doing so.
Soyinka said this while speaking in an interview on AIT’s Kakaaki programme on Wednesday.
He said, “The Presidency is saying it’s not my responsibility. On the other hand, the National Assembly keeps saying it wants the President to take action. When that happens, why doesn’t the National Assembly say “fine, we take this as our responsibility, we are obliged to the people who elected us here, the shout is heard even by the deaf today that this nation must restructure, and if that has to be done through the constitution, we are now going to face this as one of our major tasks” and then lead the Presidency on its own?”
He continued, “If the Presidency is not responding, then the National Assembly has the powers and the moral authority to respond to the desire of the populace.”
On why the National Assembly has been reluctant to take up the leadership opportunity, Soyinka said, “Very often, they are struggling for those various committees where I think all the goodies are shared, so they are compromised. But when I speak about this, I’m not speaking about the entirety. But unfortunately, there are those who are purely for their own interest and who make compromises with the Executives simply because they want to fulfil their own personal interest.”
In the same vein, Soyinka said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has run out of steam in the fight against corruption.
According to him, this has resulted in the judiciary being manipulated by powerful people in the country.
“There are so many people who should be in prison if this government had not run out of steam, and so the system is being manipulated. There are cases where the prosecution had reached the level where evidence had been given on governors who had been stealing and depositing in bits and pieces so as not to flout a certain regulation. I mean cases have been taken to that level and suddenly, silence. The EFCC, which I back solidly ever since the days of (Nuhu) Ribadu, in all kinds of ways, we no longer know the distinguishing from rights and left,” he added.
