THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Professor Wole Soyinka, first African Nobel laureate in literature, has condemned the charges preferred against Omoyele Sowore, human rights activist and convener of the #RevolutionNow protest, by the federal government of Nigeria.
The government preferred a seven counts charges of treasonable felony and money laundering against Sowore on Thursday.
The government also accused the human rights activist of causing insult to the person of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Soyinka, in a statement issued on Saturday, said that the government of Buhari has attained an unprecedented level of paranoia.
The professor said at first he did not believe the report of the charges to be true.
“This is utterly depressing news. So, the Sowore affair has moved beyond harassment and taken on a sinister direction,” the statement reads.
“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.”
Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the last general election, has been detained since 2 August by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The DSS previously accused him of threatening the public peace with his planned nationwide #RevolutionNow protest scheduled for 5 August, and subsequently got a court order to detain him for 45 days.
The 45 days elapsed on Saturday and lawyers have called on the DSS to release the activist.
Raphael Adenaike
