Insecurity: Train Farmers To Carry Guns, We Are Desperate – Soyinka Urges FG

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has called on the federal government to engage in national mobilisation to combat the menace of insecurity rocking the country.

Speaking on Arise TV on Saturday, Prof. Soyinka urged the government to train farmers to carry arms and protect themselves on their farms.

According to the Nobel laureate, Nigeria has reached the stage of desperation.

He called on the government to pay people to come and help in the fight against Boko Haram insurgents, bandits, and other criminal elements.

Soyinka said: “You don’t appease evil; we are dealing with evil, there is no other word, we are dealing with the proliferation, the enthronement of evil in the society. And unfortunately, we have encouraged its manifestation, its proliferation, its entrenchment.

“So, let them get away with the issue of sovereignty. If they have to pay people to come and help us, then call them whatever you want. Please go ahead because we’ve reached that stage of desperation.

“But I will prefer a general mobilisation in which people are trained, farmers especially are trained to work with the hoe in one hand and the gun in the other hand, ready to protect their lives, their harvests and the rest of us.

“We are not unique, history is full of those situations…I will like to see a national mobilisation. Let’s be practical.”