Wole Soyinka has reacted to the arrest of Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The Nobel Laureate in a statement described the arrest as deja vu which he compared to the General Sani Abacha military era.
The statement reads:
“Surely, Not Again!!!
“Wole Soyinka
Deployment of alarmist expressions such as “treason”, “anarchist”,
“public incitement” etc. by Security forces have become so predictable
and banal that they have become meaningless. Beyond the word
‘revolution, another much misused and misunderstood the word, nothing
that Sowore has uttered, written, or advocated suggests that he is
embarking on, or urging the public to engage in a forceful overthrow of
the government. Nothing that he said to me in private engagement ever
remotely approached an intent to destabilize governance or bypass the
normal democratic means of changing a government. I, therefore, find the
reasons given by the Inspector-General, for the arrest and detention of
this young ex-presidential candidate contrived and untenable,
unsupported by any shred of evidence. His arrest is a travesty and
violation of the fundamental rights of citizens to congregate and make
public their concerns.
“This is all so sadly déjà vu. How often must we go through this
wearisome cycle? We underwent identical cynical contrivances under the
late, unlamented Sani Abacha when he sent storm-troopers to disrupt a
planning session for a similar across-nation march at Tai Solarin
School, Ikenne. This was followed up by a personalized letter that was
hand-delivered by the State Security Services to me under their summons,
at their Abeokuta so-called ‘Annexe’ with near-identical wording to the
threats contained in today’s release from the desk of the Chief of
Police. At least, I was summoned, not subjected to a terrorist midnight
arrest. Some irony!
“The same pattern Pavlovian conduct manifested itself under yet another
supposed democratic ruler who personally declared that the gathering of
civilians to deliberate on and propose a constitution for the nation was
‘high treason’, and would be resisted by the full rigour of state power
if we persisted. The Inspector-General of Police mobilized his forces
and issued inflammatory proclamations, but PRONACO went ahead despite
all the thundering from Aso citadel. Can the police ever learn anything
also their tear-gassing and brutalizing of grieving mothers who marched
peacefully to protest the deaths of their children in a plane crash
inferno? Their mission, under that same regime, which was simply to
deliver a letter to the government house in Lagos, demanding greater
safety in airline operations, yet such a rational intent, born of
traumatic circumstances, was quashed on the sidewalks of a supposed
twentieth-century nation.
“And yet again, even a faceless cabal under yet another civilian regime
refused to be left out of the insensate play of power. A march on Aso
Rock calling for an end to governance by a ghostly entity was slated to
be crushed, but fortunately, a conflicting balance of interests decided
in favour of a reduced trajectory of protest. And so on and on and on,
in a nation which continues to speak at once through both sides of the
mouth, spewing out the same Treason monotone, as if this was a magic
incantation that could substitute for the venting of mass feelings, even
as collective therapy!
“May I invite the Inspector-General to wade through the daily journals of
the past few weeks and months, read and digest the calls by numerous
sectors of society – across professions and national groupings – for
demonstrations against the parlous conditions of society, all
identifying ills to which attention must be drawn, and urgently, through
mass action? Demonstrations and processions are time-honoured,
democratic ways of drawing not only the attention of the government to
ills, but of mobilizing the public towards a proactive consciousness of
their condition, and thereby exhorting civil society also to devise
means of ameliorating their condition through their efforts? Religious
bodies have urged such remedies, so have civic associations. The ready
recourse to arrests, incarceration and threats to civilians are
ultimately counter-productive. They alienate the citizens, erode their
confidence in governance responsiveness, and thereby advance the very
extremist nightmare that security agencies believe they are acting to
thwart.
“If we cannot learn from the histories and experiences of other
societies, let us at least learn from ours. Freedom is not so glibly
qualified. It cannot be doled out like slops of charity from soup
kitchens. Let the Police stick to their task of protecting and managing
protests, not attempt to place their meaning and declaration of intent
on bogey words like – revolution!”
