...Soyinka slams former president

The Nation

18 September 2011

...Soyinka slams former president

 NOBEL Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has castigated former President Olusegun Obasanjo for making peaceful overtures to the Boko Haram sect.

He described the visit by the former president to the home of the slain leader of the Boko Haram sect, Yusuf Mohammed, as the height of “insensitivity.”

Soyinka, accused Obasanjo of insulting the sensibilities of the families of the victims of the bombing at the United Nations headquarters in Abuja. He said it was unthinkable for the elder statesman to have conceived of a visit to the home of the arrowhead of the Boko Haram sect the same day a memorial service was being held for the victims of the Abuja bombing.

While admitting that Obasanjo has the right to assume the onerous task of mediation, Soyinka however argued that it was ill-timed.