Soyinka demands accountability for extrajudicial killings in Nigeria

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has urged President Bola Tinubu to revisit unresolved cases of assassinations and extrajudicial killings to restore public confidence in Nigeria’s justice system.

Professor Soyinka made the call on Friday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, during the 28th Wole Soyinka Lecture.

It was organised by the National Association of Seadogs (Pirates Confraternity).

The lecture, themed: “Reclaiming the Nigerian State through Accountability, Justice and Civic Courage,” also marked the association’s annual Martyr’s Day.

Soyinka said Nigeria had a long history of unconstitutional arrests, unlawful detention, unresolved assassinations, and extrajudicial killings.

He lamented that successive governments had failed to deliver justice for victims and their families.

“This lecture is dedicated to the martyrs, to those who have needlessly and avoidably had their lives wasted,” he said.

According to him, many Nigerians had been killed by state agencies or other perpetrators without accountability.

Soyinka cited the killing of Deborah Samuel, saying her death remained one of the country’s unresolved tragedies.

He described the killing of the female student by her alleged classmates as evidence of the nation’s deep justice deficit.

He added: “The crime is not only the killing.

“The greater crime is the silence that follows and the failure to hold those responsible accountable.”

The Nobel laureate said a country where people can be gunned down by state actors in broad daylight without anyone being held accountable had failed its citizens.

He dismissed suggestions that raising such issues was intended to provoke religious or ethnic divisions.

According to him, the protection of human life should remain the foundation of every democratic society.

He said: “I want the justice system in Nigeria not to fail us again.

“I don’t want it to create a pattern of impunity where human lives are treated as disposable.”

Soyinka recalled that President Tinubu, upon assuming office in 2023, requested files on unresolved assassinations and extrajudicial killings.

He urged the President to make the findings public and ensure that justice was served.

He said: “I want Nigerians to join me in asking President Tinubu to bring out those files.

“We want to know what happened, why it happened, and who should be held accountable.”

The playwright noted that the lecture was intended to remind citizens of their collective responsibility to uphold justice and defend human dignity.

He called on Nigerians to reject impunity and work together to build a society anchored on accountability, justice and respect for the sanctity of human life.

In his keynote address, former Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, said justice began long before cases reached the courts.

He argued that justice started with how complaints were handled by security agencies, insisting that decisions should be based on merit rather than external influence.

𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖/𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖