PEN Nigeria raises concerns over persecution of writers

Evelyn OSAGIE 

A group, the Nigerian Centre of PEN International, also known as PEN Nigeria, has condemned the continued detention and persecution of several Nigerian writers, bloggers and journalists.

Saying the instances spell the “violation of the freedom of expression of writers, journalists and bloggers at the behest of agents of the state, under the auspices of the PEN Nigeria Writers in Prison Committee, the group, draws attention to the plights of the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mr Omoyele Sowore and others.

“The publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mr Omoyele Sowore, is yet to regain his freedom despite the global outcry trailing the detention. He was abducted on August 3 2019, and on August 9, an order to detain him for 45 days was granted to the Department of State Security. On September 20, a day before the expiration of that order, the DSS filed a motion to detain him for an additional 20 days; on October 4, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu granted Mr Sowore N100 million bail with two sureties in like sum, while his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, was granted N50 million bail. On Monday, October 21, 2019, the Federal High Court partially reduced the conditions of the bail granted Sowore and Bakare. However, Mr Omoyele Sowore remains in custody, together with Mr Olawale Bakare.

“Messrs Sowore and Bakare are by no means the sole victims of the state’s disregard for the rule of law and freedom of expression. Mr Jones Abiri, after being held incommunicado for two years, was released but has since been rearrested. Dadiyata, the blogger, also remains in custody, with a shroud of uncertainty surrounding his whereabouts. The journalist Mary Ekere was equally assaulted and arrested in the course of discharging her duties, as was Agba Jalingo. Stephen Kefas was also remanded in Kaduna prison over a Facebook post, as was Kofi Bartels in Port Harcourt,” according to a statement, signed by PEN Nigeria Writers in Prison Committee.

Observing that these acts drag Nigeria back to the dark ages, it urges writers to use their pens responsibly and resolutely in defense of truth and freedom of expression.

Twenty-four years ago, a famous Nigerian writer died by a hangman’s noose, at the orders of the military junta. The avowals of ‘Never Again!’ that subsequently ushered in the democratic dispensation spoke of a collective desire to ensure that our freedoms as a people are never again taken away from us.  History, the saying goes, is first tragic then farcical.

“As a body of writers, we are concerned about the implications for the Nigerian people of these systematic acts of repression. These acts of repression have prompted the Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka to accuse the Nigerian government of unprecedented levels of paranoia. In a democratic dispensation such as Nigeria purports to be, one of the pillars is freedom of expression We believe that such censorship of the people bodes ill for the continuing healthy evolution of this entity called Nigeria. We therefore wish to condemn in the strongest terms these acts of violation of the right to liberty of the afore-named persons, as well as others facing a similar fate.