The Presidency has on Sunday accused Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka of blackmail and playing double standard for condemning the arrest of an activist, Omoyele Sowore.
Mr. Sowore was arrested by armed officials of the State Security Service, SSS, for championing a revolutionary protest.
Mr, Soyinka condemned the arrest of Sowore claiming that Mr. Sowore was misunderstood by the government.
According to Mr, Soyinka the words revolution is a much-misunderstood word, he claimed that all that Sowore uttered or written or advocated suggested embanking on any violent or forceful change or overthrow of government were misunderstood.
Soyinka compared the actions of the security agencies for arresting Sowore to what happened during the government of the late dictator, Sani Abacha.
However, in a reaction by the presidency through, Garba Shehu, the presidential spokesperson on media said Mr. Soyinka and others who have condemned Mr. Sowore’s arrest are blackmailers.
Shehu revealed that when things are going wrong with law and order in the country, the same group condemning the arrest of Sowore will say the Police are not doing their work. They raise their voices, demanding that “the culprits must be booked and expeditiously meted with severe punished in like manner.”
Now that the police are doing what the law demands them to do, the same category of people are singing a different song to a point of comparing the duly elected president to an autocratic leader, This is an unpardonable blackmail and an act of unpatriotic behavior that cannot stop Police and other law enforcement agencies from doing their constitutional responsibility, Shehu added.
The presidential aide opined that Mr. Sowore’s revolution calls was a call for violent change of government.
“A Nigerian is by right empowered to call for a change of government using constitutional means; that is through the power of the ballot and not by any other means. Peaceful protest against government policies and decisions are in line with the law, however, to call for the violent overthrow of a democratically elected government is unacceptable.
“Nigeria has a well-crafted Constitution and elaborate laws governing elections that guide an orderly succession in government. We have a judicial system that actively serves as a watchdog of the people’s rights.
Anything that contravenes these is an act of treasonable felony and shall be treated as one.
“Yet, we are daily witnessing a display of delight in the killing of our soldiers and policemen, an open contempt for the country’s laws and its people, accompanied by loud cheers from the so-called New Media. Is this the way to grow a country?” Mr. Shehu wrote.