Soyinka reacts to FG’s charges against Sowore

Professor Wole Soyinka has reacted to Federal Government charges against the Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 election, Omoyele Sowore.

In a suit dated September 19, and filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the government charged Sowore with treason, money laundering and also accused him of granting an interview that caused an insult to the person of President Muhammadu Buhari.

While reacting to the charges on Saturday, September 21, 2019, Soyinka said President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has attained an unprecedented level of paranoia.

In a statement on Saturday, the professor said he at first didn’t believe reports about the charges against Sowore because he thought it was a fake news.

He said, “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 the 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.

“Welcome to the Club, Mr. Omoyele Sowore.”

Recall that in August, the Nobel Laureate blamed Buhari for killings in the country.

He said there were serious acts of mis-governance under the current administration, as there were lots of unforced errors being committed by Buhari.