On Friday, Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka asked President Muhammadu Buhari to call on the State Services Department (DSS) to order the re-arrest of Omoyele Sowore after security agency operatives stormed a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Less than 24 hours after his release by the court, the DSS arrested the convener of the bailed Revolution Now movement. The DSS forcibly took the protester to its Abuja headquarters after clashing inside the courtroom with Sowore's supporters.
Confronting the security officials, Sowore’s lawyer, Femi Falana, said it was very wrong to carry out such an operation in court.
Reacting to this, Soyinka likened the incident to what he called ‘Lessons from the African Wild Dog.”
He said that disobedience calls to disobedience and the disobedience of the orders would only lead to the disregard of the authority of other arms of civil society by the people.
The literary icon warned the government to uphold and respect judicial institutions in order to prevent the present situation from degenerating into chaos.
The court, before Sowore was rearrested, had adjourned the trial of Sowore and his co-accused, Olawale Bakare, until February 11, 2020.
“I apologise for underestimating the DSS capacity for the unthinkable. I reiterate the nation’s concern, indeed alarm, about the escalating degradation of the judiciary through multiple means, of which disobedience of court orders is fast becoming the norm,” Soyinka wrote in a statement he personally signed.
“May I remind this government that disobedience calls to disobedience, and that disobedience of the orders of the constitutional repository of the moral authority of arbitration – the judiciary – can only lead eventually to a people’s disregard of the authority of other arms of civil society, a state of desperation that is known, recognised and accepted as – civil disobedience.
“It is so obvious – state disobedience leads eventually to civil disobedience, piecemeal or through a collective withdrawal of recognition of other structures of authority.
“That way leads to chaos but – who set it in motion? As is often the case, the state, unquestionably. Such a state bears full responsibility for the ensuing social condition known as anomie.
“It has become imperative and urgent to send this message to President-General Buhari: Rein in your wild dogs of disobedience. And for a start, get a trainer to teach them some basic court manners!”
Sowore was released by the DSS on Thursday night after the court had ordered his release within 24 hours, about four months after he was arrested.
The DSS had held on to the two men, who are standing trial for alleged treasonable felony, since the court ordered their release on 4 October.
They were arrested over the planned Revolution Now protest, which the DSS referred to as a treasonable offence.
But Sowore and Bakare pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them.
The President Muhammadu Buhari administration had filed seven counts bordering on treasonable felony and money laundering against the activist.
