Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, says under the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, contempt of law has worsened.
The literary icon said this while reacting to the refusal of the
Department of State Services (DSS) to release Omoyele Sowore, convener of the
#RevolutionNow Movement, as ordered by the court.
Sowore was
arrested by the DSS on August 3 and has been granted bail twice by the court,
but he is still in detention.
Sowore was charged by the federal
government on seven counts of treasonable felony, fraud, cyber-stalking and
“insulting the president”.
Soyinka said, “I have no hesitation in admitting that I have a
personal, formative interest in the health of the Nigerian judiciary, deeper
perhaps than the average Nigerian.
“It would be most surprising if my own brush with the law has
not crossed my mind since the predicament of Omoyele Sowole, journalist and
former presidential candidate began. The Nigerian judiciary was not thereby,
nor is today a model of perfection.
“One of the most effective, increasingly optimized in Nigeria,
is simply by not only ignoring, but treating its orders with disdain,
encouraging its agencies to trot out cynical excuses for disobedience while
laughing all the way to the citadel of power. In that regard, there does appear
to be an undeclared contest among succeeding governments, intensified since the
return of the nation to a civilian government in 1999 for placement in the
Guinness Book of Records as the most notorious Scofflaw in the field of
democratic pretensions.
“Perhaps we have finally attained maximum saturation, and there
is no need for any further record keeping. It is extremely difficult to imagine
a further lowering of the bar of disdain for the law than we have witnessed under
the present regime. The degree of cynicism in the conduct of State Security
agencies has attained a level of consistency that is surpassed by only one
other previous government – but it is a close call.”
“Much of the judiciary across the continent remains constantly
under siege – Nigeria is no exception. Needless to say, it often strikes me
that the ‘learned brotherhood’ could do more to protect, and assert itself,” he
said.
“Apart from the obvious and numerous scandals of moral deficit
that require constant internal purgation, there are instances where it does
fail to protect itself even from putative and/or illegal power.
“The nation continues to undergo the chagrin of having the rug
pulled from under her feet while waiting on the long queue for judicial redress
against the strong-arm culture of State, as well as unlisted power interests.
“So, finally, what do thuggery and court disobedience have in
common? Everything! They are both Scofflaw manifestations. One is simply a more
structured, more hypocritical version of the other. One knows itself for what
it is, while the other tries to camouflage its abnormality under a higher
purpose, the more elastic the better. Such is that often specious alibi labeled
‘national security’.
“As for those agencies that actually think to inhibit social
revolution by fastening on the alarmist association of the word ‘revolution’,
half the citizens of this nation should be in permanent detention. From pulpit
to minaret, from clinic to fish market, from student club to motor park, the
wish for drastic transformation of this nation is staple discourse.”
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