By John Ikani
Nigerian Nobel Prize winner, Professor Wole Soyinka has taken a swipe at Russian President, Vladimir Putin, likening him to killer herdsmen.
The octogenarian who spoke on Channels Television’s NewsNight, a pre-recorded interview aired on Monday, wondered why the Nigerian Government was yet to proscribe the activities of a cattle group, Miyetti Allah which he accused of aiding killer herdsman in perpetuating forced demography change.
According to him: “Many people just either do not know history or do not understand the purpose of history. And then there’s a different group also who are very selective about history; they know how to distort or misuse history.
“Take for instance when the incursion of the Fulani herdsmen began, and the Miyetti Allah. Their spokesman said, I think it was in Borno, ‘we once ruled this place, and we can take back our land anytime we want.’ I remember that statement; I’ve never forgotten.
“My temperament does not accept that anyone should chase me out of my God-given earth or mull the idea that you can unleash terror on me because you want my little patch of territory or you want my soul, that is you want to subjugate me, you want to turn me into a slave.”
He added, “Would you have anticipated putting invading Ukraine? Bombarding civilians with such fiendish glee? And what is Ukraine’s crime? It says leave me to associate with whoever I want.
“And I ask myself what is the difference between Putin and the herdsmen who corner the lands of farmers and invade? They kill, they slaughter, they burn, scatter the families completely, and render them homeless overnight. They and Putin should get together. It is the same mentality.”
Putin and his Ukraine counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have been embroiled in a devastating war since February 24, 2022, when the Russian Federation launched an offensive against Ukraine.
The Russian leader’s initial aim was to overrun Ukraine and depose its government, ending for good its desire to join the Western defensive alliance Nato. After a month of failures, he abandoned his bid to capture the capital Kyiv and turned his ambitions to Ukraine’s east and south.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as of July 2022, 12,272 civilian casualties have been recorded in the country including 5,237 killed and 7,035 injured.
