Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has said it is deja vu as Nigeria is going
\nthrough the same cycle it went through during the General Sani Abacha
\nmilitary era, condemning the arrest of Omoyele Sowore.<\/p>\n
Sowore was arrested and detained for planning a protest against bad
\ngovernance in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Soyinka, in a strongly-worded statement, also berated the Inspector
\nGeneral of Police for propagating a false narrative that the use of the
\nword “revolution” implies violence.<\/p>\n
The statement reads in full:<\/p>\n
Surely, Not Again!!!<\/p>\n
Wole Soyinka<\/p>\n
Deployment of alarmist expressions such as \u201ctreason\u201d, \u201canarchist\u201d,
\n\u201cpublic incitement\u201d etc. by Security forces have become so predictable
\nand banal that they have become meaningless. Beyond the word
\n\u2018revolution, another much misused and misunderstood the word, nothing
\nthat Sowore has uttered, written, or advocated suggests that he is
\nembarking on, or urging the public to engage in a forceful overthrow of
\nthe government. Nothing that he said to me in private engagement ever
\nremotely approached an intent to destabilize governance or bypass the
\nnormal democratic means of changing a government. I, therefore, find the
\nreasons given by the Inspector-General, for the arrest and detention of
\nthis young ex-presidential candidate contrived and untenable,
\nunsupported by any shred of evidence. His arrest is a travesty and
\nviolation of the fundamental rights of citizens to congregate and make
\npublic their concerns.<\/p>\n
This is all so sadly d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu. How often must we go through this
\nwearisome cycle? We underwent identical cynical contrivances under the
\nlate, unlamented Sani Abacha when he sent storm-troopers to disrupt a
\nplanning session for a similar across-nation march at Tai Solarin
\nSchool, Ikenne. This was followed up by a personalized letter that was
\nhand-delivered by the State Security Services to me under their summons,
\nat their Abeokuta so-called \u2018Annexe\u2019 with near-identical wording to the
\nthreats contained in today\u2019s release from the desk of the Chief of
\nPolice. At least, I was summoned, not subjected to a terrorist midnight
\narrest. Some irony!<\/p>\n
The same pattern Pavlovian conduct manifested itself under yet another
\nsupposed democratic ruler who personally declared that the gathering of
\ncivilians to deliberate on and propose a constitution for the nation was
\n\u2018high treason\u2019, and would be resisted by the full rigour of state power
\nif we persisted. The Inspector-General of Police mobilized his forces
\nand issued inflammatory proclamations, but PRONACO went ahead despite
\nall the thundering from Aso citadel. Can the police ever learn anything
\nalso their tear-gassing and brutalizing of grieving mothers who marched
\npeacefully to protest the deaths of their children in a plane crash
\ninferno? Their mission, under that same regime, which was simply to
\ndeliver a letter to the government house in Lagos, demanding greater
\nsafety in airline operations, yet such a rational intent, born of
\ntraumatic circumstances, was quashed on the sidewalks of a supposed
\ntwentieth-century nation.<\/p>\n
And yet again, even a faceless cabal under yet another civilian regime
\nrefused to be left out of the insensate play of power. A march on Aso
\nRock calling for an end to governance by a ghostly entity was slated to
\nbe crushed, but fortunately, a conflicting balance of interests decided
\nin favour of a reduced trajectory of protest. And so on and on and on,
\nin a nation which continues to speak at once through both sides of the
\nmouth, spewing out the same Treason monotone, as if this was a magic
\nincantation that could substitute for the venting of mass feelings, even
\nas collective therapy!<\/p>\n
May I invite the Inspector-General to wade through the daily journals of
\nthe past few weeks and months, read and digest the calls by numerous
\nsectors of society \u2013 across professions and national groupings \u2013 for
\ndemonstrations against the parlous conditions of society, all
\nidentifying ills to which attention must be drawn, and urgently, through
\nmass action? Demonstrations and processions are time-honoured,
\ndemocratic ways of drawing not only the attention of the government to
\nills, but of mobilizing the public towards a proactive consciousness of
\ntheir condition, and thereby exhorting civil society also to devise
\nmeans of ameliorating their condition through their efforts? Religious
\nbodies have urged such remedies, so have civic associations. The ready
\nrecourse to arrests, incarceration and threats to civilians are
\nultimately counter-productive. They alienate the citizens, erode their
\nconfidence in governance responsiveness, and thereby advance the very
\nextremist nightmare that security agencies believe they are acting to
\nthwart.<\/p>\n
If we cannot learn from the histories and experiences of other
\nsocieties, let us at least learn from ours. Freedom is not so glibly
\nqualified. It cannot be doled out like slops of charity from soup
\nkitchens. Let the Police stick to their task of protecting and managing
\nprotests, not attempt to place their meaning and declaration of intent
\non bogey words like \u2013 revolution!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has said it is deja vu as Nigeria is going through the same cycle it went through during the General Sani Abacha military era, condemning the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n