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Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Thursday, urged the Federal Government to investigate the “disappearance’’ of the late Alhaji Umaru Yar`Adua when he was the sitting president.
Soyinka made the call in Lagos at a Town Hall meeting organised by the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), saying the investigation would be a test of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
“The government should set up a commission of inquiry to investigate how a whole president disappeared and reappeared in the country. The proceedings should be made public,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting with theme: “For the Public Purpose: Deepening the Act’’ held at the MUSON Centre, Onikan in Lagos.
Soyinka said the FOI Act existed for the benefit of the public, stressing the need for its spirit to be carried out to the letters.
“It is time for the cry of the public to be answered by the government. It is not enough for the government to rely on official secrecy,’’ he said.
Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State said the FOI Act was not only beneficial to the press but to the public at large.
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