by Dolapo Adelana

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Friday said herdsmen have again invaded his home in Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria.

Last year while he was away from the country, herdsmen attacked Soyinka’s home.

Narrating his ordeal then, the Nobel laureate said, he returned to “find that my home ground had been invaded, and a brand-new “Appian way” sliced through my sanctuary. That ‘motorable’ path was made by the hoofed invaders. Both the improvised entry and exit are now blocked.”

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Soyinka who said “we are living in dangerous time,” stated that the attack was life-threatening and alarming as his home and that of his neighbours were invaded by the herdsmen, adding that he had reported the matter to the police in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Speaking with journalists on Friday at the Freedom Park, Lagos Island, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, Soyinka said the recent invasion was an act of provocation as the herdsmen came through another path to his doorstep.

The Nobel laureate expressed sadness that the government had done virtually nothing to stop the incessant herdsmen attack across the nation, which has left behind trails of blood, pains and anguish.

“We need to wake up the leadership, let them know the seriousness of the issue on ground; these sorts of conquerors, these herdsmen are worse than Boko Haram.

“Creating corridor for cattle grazing will compound the problem, I do not think that is the solution,” he said, adding that creating ranches for the herdsmen could be part of the solution,” he said.

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Earlier, Soyinka adapted the speech he delivered a year ago at the National Conference on Culture and Tourism, saying that “they must be taught however that there is a culture of settlement, and learn to seek accommodation with settled hosts wherever encountered.

“The leadership of any society cannot stand idly and offer solutions that implicitly deem the massacres of innocents mere incidents on the way to that learning school. For every crime, there is a punishment, for every violation, there must be restitution. The nomads of the world cannot place themselves above the law of settled humanity.”