Nobel laureate and literary icon, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has expressed some reservations about President Muhammadu Buhari’s disobedience and disrespect towards the country’s Supreme Court judgments.
Speaking on the recent disobedience of the apex court’s order during the naira validity saga by Buhari, Soyinka described Buhari’s last lap in office and legacy as a sour one.
He spoke while appearing on “The Morning Show’’ program of Arise Tv on Wednesday monitored by Persecondnews.
The 1986 Nobel prize winner in Literature noted that the primary objective of every national leader is the welfare of the people, stressing that “his final act and insubordination brought untold hardship to millions of Nigeria.”
Soyinka said:“I don’t think we need to waste much intellectual energy to assess Buhari’s tenure because he is leaving on a very sour note.
“I am referring to the policy which impoverished millions and millions of Nigerians.
“If he was hoping to go out on a high note, I am sorry he has disappointed that single action as really wiped out the major part of his achievements because to have embarked on an action like that, and to have moved to disobey the judgment and the decision of the supreme court over the currency validity is for me a sour legacy left for those who believe in democracy.”
“The primary duty of any national leader is the welfare of the people if he is hoping history will be kind to him. His final act in office I’m afraid it has soured the positive possible assessment,” Persecondnews quotes Soyinka as saying.
Persecondnews recalls occasions when the Buhari administration had ignored court orders, the most recent being the interim judgment of the Supreme Court suspending the implementation of the February 10 deadline on the legality of the old naira notes of N200, N500 and N1000.
However, the Presidency absolved itself from the controversy and condemnation that surrounded the non-compliance of the Central Bank of Nigeria or the Attorney General of the Federation with the Supreme Court order which extended the legality of the old notes till December 31, 2023.
Also, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in December 2016, had ordered the release of Islamic cleric and leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, from the detention of the Department of State Service (DSS).
The court also ordered that the DSS should pay the couple the sum of N50 million as compensation but were flagrantly disobeyed.
The Federal Government also ignored the ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Nnamdi Kanu’s bail, and also denied the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) unfettered access to medical care.
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