Prof Wole Soyinka has advised that the federal government should seek help forom the intentional body to put a stop to the killings by suspected herdsmen.
He described the killings in Benue and other parts of the country as ethnic cleansing, saying “there is no other word to describe it”.
Professor Soyinka made the statement on Thursday, during the 35th anniversary of ‘Adan Wade Kohol Ga’, a novel written by Suemo Chia, in Makurdi, the capital of Benue state.
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 been stop “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,” Soyinka 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.”