Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari missed the chance to unify a fragile Nigeria, saying he does not believe the current government can ever achieve such a feat.

Soyinka said this at the book reading and signing of two of his books titled ‘Trumpism in Academe’ and ‘Chronicles of the Happiest People on Earth’ in Abuja on Saturday.

When asked by Senator Rochas Okorocha, the lawmaker representing Imo West Senatorial District, if he could write a Nigerian story that would evoke patriotism and inspire unity among the various tribes in the country, Soyinka said such a narrative cannot be written without actual restitution for injustices over the years being made.

According to the playwright, Nigerians who have lost their relatives to failings of the society or those currently displaced at Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) will not accept the theme of unity as being presently postulated as the country has suffered from systemic failure.

He said: “We had a critical moment and we lost that moment. The moment when this country could have come together; and the sense of oneness, belonging. That vision of oneness. We lost that moment. There has been more than one moment and we lost the moment. Will another one come? I don’t know. Right now I don’t see it under this government quite frankly.

“There is a failure, a systemic failure in present governance and I don’t know who can put it together. These days, I try to go some days without reading the newspapers. It is so depressing.”

Soyinka said he personally believed that Nigeria should not break up but should remain one entity.

He, however, argued that it was wrong of the government to continue to say the country’s unity was non-negotiable