Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has described as blasphemous President Olusegun Obasanjo’s statement that Bola Ige was killed by a drug baron. Addressing journalists this morning in Victoria Island, Lagos, Soyinka also called on civil society leaders to agree on a date to protest the last fraudulent national elections. He said he was deeply offended by Obasanjo’s statement that Ige did not know his right from his left when he was the minister of power.

“For him to accuse Ige of not knowing his right from his left is a lie. He should be ashamed of himself. I stand here as a witness on the day to day activities of Bola Ige when he was Minister of Power and Steel,” he stated.

The Nobel Laureate argued that for Obasanjo to try to erase the memory of Ige from the people’s mind is uncalled for, adding that it was Obasanjo that sabotaged Ige’s reform for the power sector.

He said when Obasanjo chose Ige as Minister of Power and Steel, Ige came to him and asked him what to do, adding that he urged Ige to accept the job so that he could reform the power industry.

Soyinka said Ige and his team, which included Olu Agunloye, went to the root and discovered the main problem of the sector which is corruption.

“They came to Lagos and reached the core of the problem which is corruption but those who want to protect themselves sabotaged the process by ganging up against him,” he said, adding that they came to Obasanjo and spoilt his mind.

According to Soyinka, before then, when Ige was having problem with a particular top shot in the industry, Ige came to him (Soyinka) and asked him, to tell Obasanjo to remove the person since he does not have the power to sack.

“I went to Obasanjo and discussed with him but he said he cannot remove him. He asked me to tell Ige to come and see him so that he could tell him what to do. It was this same individual who masterminded the removal of Ige from Power and Steel sector to the Ministry of Justice.

Soyinka challenged Obasanjo to come out openly and deny what he (Soyinka) had said.

On civil protest for the cancellation of the April polls, Soyinka called on civil leaders to take up arms and march out to defy Ehindero’s order to crush any protests with maximum force.

He warned Ehindero that he would be tried for crime against humanity if he did not desist from his heinous task.