Soyinka On #Sowore’s Rearrest: President-General Buhari Should Control His Wild Dogs

Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, has described the Department of
State Services (DSS) as a pack of “wild dogs of disobedience”.

In a statement on Friday, Soyinka described the rearrest of
Omoyele Sowore, convener of #RevolutionNow movement, as a
degradation of the judiciary.

On Friday, operatives of the DSS rearrested Sowore and Olawale
Bakare at the federal high court in Abuja less than 24 hours after
they were released on the order of the court.

Before his release, the activist had spent 124 days in
detention.

The writer asked President Muhammadu Buhari to check the
excesses of the secret police as regards court manners.

“Only yesterday, in my commentary on the ongoing Sowore saga, I
pointed out the near-perfect similarity between plain crude
thuggery and the current rage of court disobedience. Little did I
suspect that the state children of disobedience would aspire to the
level of the African wild dogs on a pack hunt,” Soyinka said.

“I apologize 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.

“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, recognized 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!”