Release Sowore And Stop Embarrassing Nigeria, Wole Soyinka Tells DSS
Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka on Wednesday has called on the Department of State Services (DSS) has become increasingly fascistic to stop embarrassing the country.
The DSS has refused to comply with a court order asking it to release the convener of the Revolution Now protest, Omoyele Sowore, after meeting met his bail conditions.
Officials of the service shot at protesters who had gone to the agency’s headquarters in Abuja to demand Sowore’s release.
Reacting on Wednesday in a statement, Soyinka asked the security service to release the human rights activist to stop embarrassing Nigeria before the world, adding that the detention of the pro-democracy activist was not only callous but also criminal.
He noted that it is heart-warming to witness the determined efforts of “Concerned Nigerians” in defence of these rights.
“Predictably, the ham-fisted response of the Directorate of State Security (DSS) continues to defy the rulings of the court. The weaponry of lies having been exploded in their faces, they resort to what else? Violence! Violence, including, as now reported, the firing of live bullets,” he said.
He further stated that the answer for DSS’s desperation is straightforward, as the federal government never imagined that the bail conditions for Sowore would ever be met.
“Even Sowore’s supporters despaired. The bail test was set to fail! It took a while for the projection to be reversed, and it left the DSS floundering. That agency then resorted to childish, cynical lies. It claimed that the ordered release was no longer in their hands, but in Sowore’s end of the transfer. The lie being exploded, what next? Bullets, of course!
He further stated that such an incident was not only callous and inhuman, but it is also criminal.
“It escalates already untenable defiance by the state. As I remarked from the onset, this is an act of government insecurity and paranoia that merely defeats its real purpose. And now – bullets? This is no longer comical. Perhaps it is necessary to remind this government of precedents in other lands where, even years after the event, those who trampled on established human rights that generate homicidal impunity are called to account for abuse of power and crimes against humanity.”
The literature professor also said the protests for Sowore’s release is beyond acts of solidarity, but are manifestations of the judgment and authority of courts of law, under “which this nation is governed”.
READ: You Lied, We Waited in Vain to Receive Sowore And Bakare, Falana Faults DSS’ Claim
“Enough of this charade, nothing more than a display of crude, naked power. Release Omoyele Sowore and save us further embarrassment in regard to the world. An apology to the nation by the DSS and the judiciary would also not be out of place.
“It would go some distance in redeeming the image of an increasingly fascistic agency and reduce the swelling tide of public disillusionment.”
