Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has spoken against the lockdown of the venue for a symposium by security agents.
Police said they closed down the venue of the programme in Lagos on August 19 organised by a pro-RevolutionNow group, Coalition for Revolution (CORE), for fear of hoodlums taking over the symposium.
[ads]
Soyinka was billed to speak at the event.
The venue was later opened after the intervention of human rights lawyer, Femi Falana.
At the unveiling of an art gallery in Badagry on Saturday in commemoration of his 85th birthday, Soyinka said the government was reducing itself and the people by that act.
He said: “It is important to send a strong message to this government and to the security services to stop trying to muzzle people when they come together to exchange ideas.
“You’re reducing them as human beings and you’re also reducing yourselves as human beings because it means you’re afraid to listen.”
The professor also said: “One of the beauties of existence is the ability to express concern which we cannot compromise,” adding that “the reduction of the rights of expression of any one of us is an infringement and assault on the rights of all of us.”
Soyinka also cautioned Nigerians not to believe everything they read on social media but rather take online publications “with a pinch of salt.”
[ads]
He said: “Be very, very careful what you believe even when you read such materials on social media or sometimes in newspapers because in this country, we have a most fertile multiplier effect.
“When somebody hears something, he puts it on the Internet, it spreads and industry begins as people start commenting on things which never existed.”
