Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has berated the Federal Government over the charges bordering on treasonable felony against the convener of Revolution Now, Mr. Omoyele Sowore.
Soyinka said with the charges against Sowore, it had become obvious that the government suffered from “an unprecedented level of paranoia.”
He said he did not believe that the Justice department itself believed in the charges which he described as “improbable charges.”
Recall that Sowore was arrested on August 3, 2019, following the plan to organise a Revolution Now protest.
The Department of State Services, DSS, got a court order to detain him for 45 days and later charged him for treasonable felony on September 19.
In the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, Omoyele Sowore also faces charges of money laundering and cyberstalking.
Wole Soyinka’s statement reads in full:
“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 in our annals another season of treasonable felony, History still guards some lessons we have yet to digest, much less from which to learn.
“Wme to the Club, Mr. Omoyele Sowore.”
