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Soyinka, others demand national confab or Obasanjo's resignation
By Clifford Ndujihe, Fred Okoror, Idowu Ajanaku and Odita Sunday

PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo was yesterday handed a choice between convening a Sovereign National Conference and quitting office. The choice was handed down by Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka and the leadership of a budding civil rights group, the Citizens Forum.

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The group had at the weekend organised a mass rally against the Federal Government which was, however, disrupted by the police.

The leadership of the group also includes prominent activists, Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi (SAN), Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Mr. Femi Falana. They held a press conference at the Eko L'Meridien Hotel in Lagos yesterday, affirming their allegation that Prof. Soyinka and some other eminent citizens were arrested by the police at the disrupted rally.

But the state police command yesterday denied the allegation, claiming that its men only disallowed the group from holding a rally the government had declared illegal since no permit for it was obtained.

It was echoing the position of the federal police authorities on the issue as stated at the weekend by Force Public Relations Officer Chris Olakpe (DCP) and the Personal Staff Officer to the Inspector-General, Taiwo Lakanu (ACP).

Soyinka and the activists, who spoke extempore, related their ordeals in the hands of the police at the weekend, lamenting that "Nigeria did not have it so rough even at the height of the struggle to enthrone the current democratic dispensation."

Soyinka expressed surprise at what he called the brutality of the Federal Government against the opposition, stressing that the "oppressive tendencies" did not augur well for the democratisation process of the country.

The Nobel laureate restated his call for the conference, insisting that its convocation was the main goal of the organisation. His words: "President Obasanjo must either resign now or convene a sovereign national conference to resolve the problems confronting the nation.

He declared that pro-democracy activists would organise the conference whether the government liked it or not, "because it has become overdue."

Soyinka said: "The reason we fight the government is not because we want to achieve any personal gain. We are talking about going to the roots, the soul of the nation and not just conference of any type."

Soyinka continued: "We cannot run away from the urgent need to organise the SNC. The agitation for SNC has become so clear because people are no longer happy with the existing structure in the country."

On the alleged police brutality, Soyinka said he never expected that President Obasanjo could "go this far in muzzling the opposition."

He added: "Even the late Gen. Sani Abacha, as brutal` as he was, did not clamp down on me and the late Tai Solarin when the two of us staged a protest march at the same Campos Square during the heady days of his regime."

Soyinka continued: "This is the first time a government will fight protesters as if it is fighting a war at the Campos Square. Even our late nationalists, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, made good use of Campos Square to lampoon the obnoxious policies of the colonialists. We used the venue because it is well known for popular protests."

The Nobel laureate, who noted that the change of government had become inevitable, insisted the pro-democracy organisations would step up the efforts to hold more rallies across the country "until the government agrees to organise the SNC and stop inhuman policies that impact negatively on the people."

Besides the planned rallies across the country, Soyinka vowed to inform the international community on the level of alleged human rights abuses of President Obasanjo's administration, stressing that members of the Citizens Forum would not relax agitation until the Federal Government listened to the yearnings and aspirations of the people.

Fawehinmi called for the resignation of all elected officers at the federal, state and local government levels to pave way for the establishment of a Government of National Unity (GNU), which would entrench genuine democracy in the country.

According to him, it is only when this is done that there can be peace in the country. He reiterated that their resignation would also pave way for the convocation of the SNC.

While countering police allegation that they did not obtain permit before organising the rally, Fawehinmi said: "Going by the position of the police, it means that eminent pro-democracy activists that organised the rally were area boys."

He stated that the SNC is the answer to the national question "because sovereignty belongs to the people," He vowed to petition the United Nations to investigate and probe Saturday's police action.

Falana challenged the Public Order Act, saying that the government's application of the Act had become discriminatory.

He recalled that on May 1, the NLC protested some of the policies of the Federal Government without getting any permit and "yet the police did not disrupt the rallies."

But the Lagos State police command yesterday restated its claims that it never arrested the activists.

In a statement signed by the Lagos Police spokesman, Mr. Emmanuel Ighodalo, the police command said its officers were positioned around Campos Square in Central Lagos with a view to preventing an illegal rally by Citizens Forum, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), CNPP and others; thus enforcing the Public Order Act."

Igbodalo said that: "At about 11.00 a.m. on Saturday, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Mr. Femi Falana, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Ayo Obe as well as many other people abandoned their respective cars some metres away and attempted to go into the Campos Square at Igbosere but could not do so because the gates were firmly locked by the police."

The police spokesman continued: "They all stood by the roadside and attempted to conduct an illegal rally in spite of appeals by the police to them to respect the laws of the land, especially since there was no police permit granted for the rally."

According to Ighodalo, the human rights activists "left the Campos Square vicinity under the pretext of dispersing but rather moved to Sangrouse market with a view to conducting the same illegal rally."

He said the police were on their trail and discovered that at Sangrouse area, miscreants, touts, as well as university students from all parts of the country started to mill around them to hijack the rally.

Ighodalo added: "Police never arrested anybody and nobody was injured at all. Police only persuaded them to leave the entrances of the two venues of the rally.

"Soyinka and the four others were later addressed by the police on the need to always respect the laws of the land and thereafter they all left for their homes."