He said this in Osun State at a colloquium with the theme Fundamental Imperatives of Cohabitation, Faith and Secularism, organised by Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding, CBCIU, Osogbo.
Soyinka noted that the security challenges facing the country could not be solved by prayers, but by leaders with capacity to deal with the situation without partisanship.
He suggested that learning from the history of nations that had faced similar situations could help Nigeria survive her present security challenges.
Soyinka, who was a keynote speaker at the colloquium called for a frank talk among stakeholders in the affairs of the country to end the spate of bombings.
He said he received with shock the news of Nyanya Motor Park bombing. He therefore tasked authorities concerned to arrest the situation.
The Nobel Laureate also debunked a newspaper report, which quoted him as saying the nation's security challenges could be resolved through prayers, positing that Boko Haram insurgency should not be mistaken for a religious war, insisting that prayers alone could not end the crises.
"I have never said prayer can help resolve the security challenges facing Nigeria.
"I believe the situation must be tackled without partisanship and all these uninformed comments cannot help the situation.
"We should wake up to the reality. Nigeria is in war and only competence can solve the problem, not prayers," Soyinka said.
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