Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has called on President Bola Tinubu to initiate an urgent investigation into the unresolved and suspicious deaths of key figures associated with the June 12 pro-democracy struggle.
He said this included Dele Giwa, Bola Ige, and Kudirat Abiola.
Soyinka made this appeal on Saturday during a reflective fireside conversation with selected journalists at Freedom Park, Lagos.
The dialogue, themed, “June 12: Romancing the Embers,” was held to mark the anniversary of the annulled 1993 presidential election, a watershed moment in Nigeria’s democratic history that is now commemorated as a national holiday.
According to him, Tinubu should initiate a formal probe into the strange circumstances that led to the deaths of Nigerians who paid the ultimate price during the struggle for democracy to give some closure to the matter.
While commending the symbolic significance of June 12, Soyinka noted that honouring its legacy must go beyond annual rituals and speeches.
He argued that justice for those who died in the fight for democracy would lend deeper meaning to the day’s commemoration.
The playwright and activist also announced that he would be dedicating any honours or recognition bestowed upon him on June 12 to the late Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti.
He said Beko was not just a defender of human rights, a champion of good governance, and a tireless campaigner for democracy, but an intelligent, resourceful, and fearless individual willing to take dare-devil risks in pursuit of justice.
Meanwhile, Soyinka described former military president Ibrahim Babangida’s memoir, ‘A Journey in Service,’ as incomplete, insisting that the retired general owes Nigerians the duty of finishing the 405-page book, which was published in February 2025 by Bookcraft Africa.
Soyinka said Babangida must write a follow-up book, as his autobiography remains unfinished.
“I called him (Babangida) and I said that your memoir is not finished. And I said, isn’t it about time that we name names in this matter? Babangida’s book should be read side by side with Professor Omo Omoruyi’s. Omoruyi was there,” Soyinka said, referring to Professor Omoruyi’s own account of the annulment, The Tale of June 12: The Betrayal of the Democratic Rights of Nigerians.
“I told him, you haven’t finished your book. You have to write another one. That’s my position,” Soyinka asserted.
It will be recalled that Professor Omoruyi was Babangida’s close friend and confidant throughout his eight-year tenure as military president.
The Nobel Laureate also described Babangida as “a general without an army.”
“We know of a certain move which he made. We know those who visited him at the time, those who added their weight to the annulment, both within the military and the civil. We know the royal fathers who went to visit and said on no account will they accept the implementation of that election.
“We know all of that. It’s not me who should write it. It’s he. He owes it to the nation,” Soyinka maintained.
The Punch
