TheCable

Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, has advised the federal government to seek assistance from the international community to end the killings by suspected herdsmen.

Soyinka described the killings in Benue and other states as ethnic cleansing, saying “there is no other word to describe it”.

The professor made the comments on Thursday while speaking in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, during the 35th anniversary of ‘Adan Wade Kohol Ga’, a novel written by of Suemo Chia.

He said: “If the government cannot cope, it should not shy away from asking for international help.

“People are dying, this government cannot cope, please just ask for international help and I know they’re ready and willing to come to our aid.

“Instead of treating the country of its cancerous disease rather, it is ringworm that is being treated.

“The killings that are taking place in Benue and other states are targeted at ethnic cleansing and there is no any other word to describe it than that.”

Soyinka said the killings would have stopped if President Muhammadu Buhari had visited the hotspots and issued warnings to herdsmen.

“We have to come together to probe the ugly situation so that the impunity which is going on in the country for long will stop,” he said.

“If the President had visited any community where lives were lost due to the killings perpetrated by the armed herdsmen and give warnings, the killings would have stopped since.”