Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has called on President Bola Tinubu to end all forms of killings by state actors, warning that public silence is compounding the problem.
Soyinka made the call while dedicating his 2026 public lecture to victims of extrajudicial killings and state excesses in Nigeria. He said the country’s greatest failure is not just the murders themselves, but the collective silence that lets killers walk free.
The playwright spoke at the 28th Wole Soyinka Lectures in Port Harcourt, themed “Reclaiming the Nigerian State through Accountability, Justice and Civic Courage.” He said public inaction over state excesses only fuels further human rights abuses.
He dedicated the lecture to the 18 Ughelli residents killed by state agents, a young man shot dead by a policeman while under suspicion, and Deborah, a student killed by her own classmates who accused her of blasphemy.
“The crime is the silence of the rest of us, that such a thing is possible and that the killers of that girl can actually go on television, hold up a match and say, ‘This is the match with which I set her on fire,'” Soyinka said. “And there the system of justice fails us completely.”
He rejected claims that he stokes religious conflict by raising such cases, insisting that forums like the Port Harcourt lecture matter precisely because they remind Nigerians that the individual is the most important unit of any community.
Soyinka urged citizens to keep pressure on the case of the policeman who shot the young man, and to demand accountability from the justice system.
Delivering the keynote, former Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka said justice for most Nigerians breaks down long before any courtroom — starting with whether police believe a complaint or dismiss it based on factors outside the merits of the case.
Chidoka said 64 per cent of inmates in Nigerian custodial centres, more than 50,000 people, are awaiting trial without conviction.
“Each of these 50,000 is a life in suspension, a job lost, a family destabilised, someone’s health failing,” he said. “When the state causes that delay, the citizens pay for it in lost liberty. The delay is not inefficiency. It is a form of violence carried out by the state itself.”
Chidoka said true justice requires that the rules not change with a citizen’s identity, that prosecutions follow evidence, and that detainees remain accessible to their lawyers.
“A citizen who defeats government in court must not face a second battle to compel obedience,” he said. “Justice is also tested by how society treats those it dislikes. The law is not established when it protects only our friends. Justice must defend the accused, the unpopular, the political opponent, and the minority, because citizenship does not depend on agreement. Where justice is negotiable, citizenship becomes hierarchical.”
In his opening remarks, former NDDC managing director Timi Alaibe, who chaired the event, said sustainable development cannot exist without accountability. He urged participants from government, business, academia and civil society to treat the lecture as more than ceremony.
“Nations are not reclaimed by rhetoric alone. They are reclaimed when conscience triumphs over confidence, when institutions are stronger than individuals, when citizens summon the courage to do what is right, even when it is difficult,” Alaibe said.
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