Soyinka seeks closed cases of religious killings reopened, demands public holiday for traditionalists

Against the backdrop of his 89th birthday celebrations, Prof Wole Soyinka made three demands of the Federal Government on Sunday, including the reopening of unsolved cases of religious killings and the establishment of a public holiday for traditionalists.

The Nobel laureate stated that the requests were directed at “all of the security agencies in this country as well as the governance itself, right from the President to the lowest individual in this country.”

Soyinka bemoaned the lack of security personnel to bring extrajudicial executions to justice.

His appeal was underpinned by the case of Deborah Samuel, a second-year student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto State who was killed on May 12, 2022, over allegations of blasphemy.

The literary icon asked that the files “be opened — beginning with Deborah — on all those who have killed extrajudicially in the name of religion.”

Soyinka’s second demand was targeted at members of the diplomatic community.

According to him, it is not enough for the international community to place travel restrictions on perpetrators of electoral violence in the 2023 general elections.

He asked that visa bans be extended to religious bigots.

Lastly, the famed playwright decried the neglect faced by traditionalists in the country, declaring that “we’ve had enough”.

“It’s about time we demanded, on behalf of traditional religions, an annual holiday like Islam and Christianity. We’ve had enough,” he said.

“We’ve had enough of being second-class citizens in this nation. So, equal time, equal space, we demand public holidays. We demand it of state governments, local governments, and the Federal Government. We want an annual public holiday.”