For Soyinka, A Moral Question - by Rivers State commissioner for Information

Piece below written by Dr. Austin Tam-George, the Hon.
Commissioner for Information and Communication, Rivers
State..
Prof. Wole Soyinka’s reaction to the scandal of the 82
Million Naira dinner held in his honour by the Rotimi
Amaechi government in Rivers State is at once
disappointing and depressing. Soyinka has said he
didn’t know about the cost of a party held in his name,
in a State where 90 per cent of the people live in
insufferable poverty. But now that official documents
show the cost of his three-hour dinner, where is his
moral outrage?
Why does his statement not include a condemnation of such
unconscionable misuse of public funds in his name?
In a country full of villainy, Soyinka is often held up as a
moral titan. The Nobel Laureate cements this perception by
conducting himself in the manner of someone who suffers
from a god complex, someone who does no wrong.
But Soyinka’s unbridled support for Rotimi Amaechi invites
close moral scrutiny.
Rivers State is reeling from the catastrophic legacy of the
Amaechi years. Despite receiving over 3 trillion naira in
revenue in 8 years, Amaechi left the most abandoned projects
in the history of Rivers State, since 1967.
Thousands of workers went without their salaries for 4
months, aged pensioners faced starvation without their
pensions for 8 months, and the salaries of thousands of
teachers were not paid for nearly 12 months.
Everywhere you looked in Amaechi’s Rivers State; there was
this stark, almost synonymic connection between poor
governance, corruption and fiction.
A physical tour of the Greater Port Harcourt City in Rivers
State on which Amaechi had spent over one hundred billion
Naira, revealed only a putrid landscape of corruption, broken
dreams and wasted resources.
How could Wole Soyinka be indifferent to such atrocious
legacy?
During her 80th birthday in 2011, the American Nobel
Laureate Toni Morrison had a hearty laugh over coffee with
friends at her home in Ohio. No State dinner was held in her
honour at tax payers’ expense by the State of Ohio.
Can Soyinka reasonably claim to be indifferent to the
exemplary moral contrast provided by Toni Morrison?
The 82 million Naira dinner for Soyinka is a financial crime
against the people of Rivers State.
Did the Nobel Laureate receive cash gifts during that bibulous
night?
Will Soyinka condemn this pornography of waste and excess
by Rotimi Amaechi?
That is the moral question.