Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has reacted to the seven-count charge filed against the presidential candidate of the African Action Alliance in the February 23, 2019 election in Nigeria, Omoyele Sowore.
In the charges, the Nigerian Government, which is detaining Sowore at the facility of the Department of State Services, accused him of treasonable felony and money laundering.
Reacting to the development, Soyinka said the reaction of the President Muhammadu Buhari Government to the street protest called by the Publisher of Sahara Reporters and some others was an indication that the Administration had “attained an unprecedented level of paranoia”.
In the statement released on Saturday night, Soyinka, who is out of the country, said: “This is utterly depressing news. So, the Sowore affair has moved beyond harassment and taken on a sinister direction. Outside the country where I happened to be engaged at the moment, I can testify that the immediate reaction around me was to dismiss this as yet another grotesque product of Fake News, of which Nigerians have become the greatest practitioners. I confess that I also joined in this school of thought – at he start.
“Further checks have however confirmed that this government has indeed attained an unprecedented level of paranoia. I do not believe that the Justice department itself believes in these improbable charges, as formally publicised. So, once again, we inscribe n our annals another season of treasonable felony, History still guards some lessons we have yet to digest, much less from which to learn.
“Welcome to the Club, Mr. Omoyele Sowore.”
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