Nigerian politicians are fraudulent, says Soyinka

By Toyese Oladejo, Ibadan

Professor Wole Soyinka has described most Nigerian politicians as fraudulent and parochial in their approach to governance.

Soyinka, who made the condemnation in an interview regretted that instead of giving priority to the welfare of the masses, they were preoccupied with their selfish interest.

"Look at them, they have started wrongly again. They have allocated huge amounts to themselves to procure vehicles and there is serious suffering in the land," Soyinka declared.

The Nobel laureate called for a sharp reduction in the salaries and other emoluments of the political office holders stressing that politicians were only living at the expense of the masses who elected them into offices.

Soyinka criticised the present one-party system structure of the country, which he claimed, would lead to a unitary system of government.

He therefore, canvassed for a true federal structure, which would allow each geographical zone to use its national resources for the good of the people in the area unlike what obtained under the current system.