Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka on Friday warned President Muhammadu Buhari to caution operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, over the degradation of the judiciary.
Soyinka spoke in reaction to the invasion of the Federal High Court in Abuja and re-arrest of convener of Revolution Now, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, by the DSS.
Said Wole Soyinka in a statement: “It has become imperative and urgent to send this message to President-General Buhari: Rein in your wild dogs of disobedience. And for a start, get a trainer to teach them some basic court manners!”
He said it was unfortunate that the operatives who he described as state children of disobedience would aspire to the level of the “African wild dogs on a pack hunt.”
He warned that their actions could lead to civil disobedience in the country.
His statement reads: “Only yesterday, in my commentary on the ongoing Sowore saga, I pointed out the near-perfect similarity between plain crude thuggery and the current rage of court disobedience. Little did I suspect that the state children of disobedience would aspire to the level of the African wild dogs on a pack hunt.
“I apologize for underestimating the DSS capacity for the unthinkable. I reiterate the nation’s concern, indeed alarm, about the escalating degradation of the judiciary through multiple means, of which disobedience of court orders is fast becoming the norm.
“May I remind this government that disobedience calls to disobedience, and that disobedience of the orders of the constitutional repository of the moral authority of arbitration – the judiciary – can only lead eventually to a people’s disregard of the authority of other arms of civil society, a state of desperation that is known, recognized and accepted as – civil disobedience.
“It is so obvious – state disobedience leads eventually to civil disobedience, piecemeal or through a collective withdrawal of recognition of other structures of authority. That way leads to chaos but – who set it in motion? As is often the case, the state, unquestionably. Such a state bears full responsibility for the ensuing social condition known as anomie.
“It has become imperative and urgent to send this message to President-General Buhari: Rein in your wild dogs of disobedience. And for a start, get a trainer to teach them some basic court manners!”
The re-arrest of Sowore by the DSS came less than 24 hours after he was released.
He had been in detention of the DSS since August following a protest, Revolution Now, against the government.
Upon arrest, he was charged to court over alleged treasonable felony among other things.
He was however granted bail, but the DSS refused to let him off the hook for many weeks.
Sowore’s lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, said the DSS said he was told that the latest arrest was on fresh charges.
