Professor Wole Soyinka has reacted to former governor of old Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa's claim that Operation Amotekun was to create Oduduwa Republic.
Balarabe in an interview with the Sun, warned that President Muhammadu Buhari's government must not allow the operation of such security network, adding that it falls out of the established laws of the country.
Soyinka however, said the former Kaduna governor's rhetoric could lead to tragedy especially 'when fears are mistaken, or promoted as facts.'
He said, "Balarabe is sadly, but I hope not tragically wrong. I invoke the tragic dimension here because the making of tragedy, especially for nations, often begins when fears are mistaken, or promoted as facts, and governments either by themselves, or together with interest groups, are enticed by fears into embarking on precipitate, irrational, and irreversible acts.
"Such acts turn out in the end to be based on nothing but fears, sometimes generated by guilt over past injustices, such as inequitable dealing. That is the basis of tragedy, towards which nations are propelled by a partial, or wrongful reading of socio-political realities and – history.
"I would like to see this nation avoid such a blunder. So, I am certain, would Balarabe Musa. Raising the spectre of secession is a facile approach to the dangerous, self-evident lapses in governance which Balarabe himself acknowledges in his response to the Amotekun principle made flesh.
"The midwives of Amotekun have repeatedly acknowledged that theirs is only a contribution towards a crisis of escalating proportions. Other states should be encouraged to emulate, not misread such initiatives, then demonize them by false attributions. That is the certain recipe for tragedy."
