Playwright and Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has said that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has attained an “unprecedented level of paranoia”, following the charge of treason, cybercrime and money laundering filed against the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore.
A day before the expiration of the 45 days detention order made by the Federal High Court in Abuja, the Nigerian Government had on Friday, September 20, filed a seven counts charge of treasonable felony, cybercrime and money laundering against Sowore.
In a statement on Saturday, Prof. Soyinka said the nation had failed to learn from history and past experiences.
Soyinka 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,” Soyinka said.