Photos: Sambo, Soyinka, Others Pay Tributes to OJUKWU

The late elder statesman and leader of the defunct Biafra Republic, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was laid in state yesterday at the Micheal Okpara square, Enugu, where a crowd and top dignitaries gathered to pay their tributes.

The casket was draped in green-white-green national colours and placed on top of it was a pair of service shoes, a sword and a cap.

Present at the event were; Vice President Nnamadi Sambo; First Lady, Patience Jonathan; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, Professor Wole Soyinka, Jerry Rawlings, former President of Ghana, and several state governors, Senators, traditional and religious leaders.

He will be buried today in his hometown, Nnewi in Anambra state.

May his soul Rest In Peace.

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Nigeria heading towards civil war – Soyinka

 

NOBEL laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Tuesday reportedly told the BBC World Service in an interview on the state of the nation that the country was heading towards a civil war caused by the political leaders.

Soyinka said the issues raised by the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, which was blamed for violence targeting Christians in the and that has sparked fears of a wider religious conflict, had been brewing for some time.

The laureate said, “There are people in power in certain parts of the country, leaders, who quite genuinely and authoritatively hate and cannot tolerate any religion outside their own. “Those who have created this faceless army have lost control.”

He said, “The current security challenge has reinforced the need to aggressively pursue economic development and simultaneously implement the war on terrorism. In this regard, let me caution against reckless utterances by some Nigerians that endanger our national unity.

“Statements that encourage people to move from one region to another on the basis of faith and ethnicity are unpatriotic. It portends danger to our corporate existence and a clear invitation to anarchy.”