Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has said that he will turn himself over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the alleged N82m spent on his 80th birthday by Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.
Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Tam-George, had on Wednesday on a radio programme, accused Amaechi’s administration of spending N82m on Prof. Soyinka’s 80th birthday dinner in the state at a time the ex-governor turned transport minister could not pay civil servants’ salaries, adding that the state may take legal action against the Nobel laureate.
He said: “I will seek the permission of the Governor to formally write Professor Wole Soyinka, a known supporter of Amaechi if he received part of the N82million spent on a three-hour dinner hosted for him by the Amaechi administration.
“If he reveals that he received any fund, then he will be compelled to refund same to the coffers of Rivers State. At present, we have presented these details to the police for investigation and prosecution. We will also take up this matter as a financial crime against the people of Rivers State.”
Reacting to the threat, Soyinka in a statement released on Wednesday lambasted the incumbent governor of the state, Gov. Nyesom Wike, adding that he does not fear prosecution.
The statement reads: “This morning, I saw only the headlines in one or two print media regarding the 80th Birthday dinner to which I was hosted by the former governor of Rivers State, the Honorable Rotimi Amaechi, now Minister of Transportation. I ignored them. It was not, and remains not my business to probe into the catering and logistical implications of the hundreds of institutions and governments all over the world to whom I acknowledge an immense debt of unsolicited recognition over the years.
“Since then however, I have learnt of some unsavory statements by the insecure incumbent of the Rivers State government Lodge. These included a loose invitation to anti-crime agencies to investigate the potential crime of being honoured through any occasion. The unprecedented call by this governor is prescient of a warning I recounted in my recent pamphlet publication THE REPUBLIC OF LIARS, and was taken from my address to an anti-corruption global conference that took place in Tunisia two years ago. Those words were: CORRUPTION STRIKES BACK. In this ongoing instance, that expression translates most vividly as “Those who are neck deep in the sewage of corruption ensure that they splatter sewage in all possible and improbable directions.”
“I do however fully support the Wikeleaks call for multi-directional probes. I recommend further that he involve the services of INTERPOL to guarantee its extension to all international organisations and governments to whom I owe uncountable events of recognition – including birthday luncheons, dinners, cultural receptions and events of real, fictitious, or simply opportunistic flavoring – to which I have submitted myself.
“The descent to this present level of abominable distractions makes one truly despair. It is one that even I did not envisage when I warned – CORRUPTION STRIKES BACK! Whether it brings honour or dishonour to the nation is another matter – I am saddened, but indifferent.
“EFCC and company – over to you! You all know where I live.”
