On Wednesday, the Nyesom Wike-led Rivers state government released a statement, claiming that about N82 million was allegedly spent by his incumbent, Rotimi Amaechi, to host Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on his 80th birthday dinner.

The Rivers government had called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate the funds spent on Soyinka’s birthday and to determine if any monetary gift was given to the revered literary icon.

The state commissioner for Information, Dr Austin Tam-George, had released a statement to this effect, informing Soyinka that the state would request for a refund if it was discovered that he received cash from the N82 million spent on his birthday by Amaechi.

Reacting to the fiasco on Wednesday, Soyinka said he has received hundreds of recognitions worldwide and it’s out of place for him to look into the ‘catering and logistical implications’ of institutions and governments who honour him.

In the statement titled: ‘Those who flounder in the sewage of corruption’, Soyinka described the Rivers state government as insecure while inviting the EFCC to come and probe.

“This morning, I saw only the headlines in one or two print media regarding the 80th Birthday dinner to which I was hosted by the former governor of Rivers State, the Honorable Rotimi Amaechi, now Minister of Transportation. I ignored them. It was not, and remains not my business to probe into the catering and logistical implications of the hundreds of institutions and governments all over the world to whom I acknowledge an immense debt of unsolicited recognition over the years.”

“Since then however, I have learnt of some unsavory statements by the insecure incumbent of the Rivers State government Lodge. These included a loose invitation to anti-crime agencies to investigate the potential crime of being honoured through any occasion. The unprecedented call by this governor is prescient of a warning I recounted in my recent pamphlet publication THE REPUBLIC OF LIARS, and was taken from my address to an anti-corruption global conference that took place in Tunisia two years ago. Those words were: CORRUPTION STRIKES BACK. In this ongoing instance, that expression translates most vividly as ‘Those who are neck deep in the sewage of corruption ensure that they splatter sewage in all possible and improbable directions.’

“I do however fully support the Wikeleaks call for multi-directional probes. I recommend further that he involve the services of INTERPOL to guarantee its extension to all international organisations and governments to whom I owe uncountable events of recognition – including birthday luncheons, dinners, cultural receptions and events of real, fictitious, or simply opportunistic flavoring – to which I have submitted myself.”

“The descent to this present level of abominable distractions makes one truly despair. It is one that even I did not envisage when I warned – CORRUPTION STRIKES BACK! Whether it brings honour or dishonour to the nation is another matter – I am saddened, but indifferent. EFCC and company – over to you! You all know where I live.”

Kolapo Olapoju