Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Saturday, challenged President Bola Tinubu to launch fresh investigations into the unresolved and suspicious killings of key figures involved in the June 12 pro-democracy struggle.
The fresh probe, he said should include those of Dele Giwa, Bola Ige, and Kudirat Abiola.
Soyinka stated this during a chat with selected journalists at Freedom Park, Lagos.
The dialogue, which had the theme, “June 12: Romancing the Embers,” was held in commemoration of the annulled 1993 presidential election, a watershed moment in Nigeria’s democratic history.
He charged Tinubu to launch a fresh formal probe into the strange circumstances that led to the deaths of these Nigerians who paid the ultimate price during the struggle for democracy with a view to giving some closure to the matter.
Soyinka, who commended the symbolic significance of June 12, however noted that honouring its legacy must go beyond annual rituals and speeches.
He stressed that justice for those who died in the fight for democracy would give a deeper meaning to the day’s commemoration.
The Nobel laureate also announced that he would be dedicating any honours or recognition bestowed upon him on June 12 to the late Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, saying 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.
Soyinka, however, 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.
He challenged the former military president to write a follow-up book, stressing his autobiography remains unfinished.
Soyinka said, “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.
“I told him, you haven’t finished your book. You have to write another one. That’s my position.”
Professor Omo Omoruyi was Babangida’s close friend and confidant throughout his eight-year tenure as military president.
Omoruyi’s own account of the annulled election is titled, “The Tale of June 12: The Betrayal of the Democratic Rights of Nigerians.”
The literary icon further described the former military president 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.”
