“Sowore is not the type of enemy that the Nigerian Government needed at this point in the history of the country,” he said.
Osundare, in a note to President Muhammadu Buhari urging him to order his release, the professor of English said Sowore was a “wrong prisoner being kept behind the bar”.
“Sowore is not an enemy that the Nigerian Government should fight, the real of enemies of the country are allowed to be working free without harassment.”
“Our prison cells should be yearning for those kleptocrat and political scoundrels who pillage our nation’s treasury, who squander our hopes and keep Nigeria in that perpetual state of the Big-for-Nothing country.
“Omoyele Sowore is not the enemy the Nigerian government needs or should want to fight.
“The real enemies are out there; hunger and grinding poverty of the masses in the country of a few dubious billionaires, widespread insecurity of life and property, a creeping loss of faith in the very unity and corporate existence of the country, political leadership that does not know how and where to lead.
“This is why ‘revolution’ has suddenly become a scare word, and the current waver of that verbal red flag has been clamped down in custody. But let us remind ourselves of that common but no less significant axiom: you may imprison the man, but you can never imprison his ideas.”
Osundare added: “Sowore is a wrong prisoner being allowed to languish in detention and should, therefore, be released.”
He said: “No dreamer, no change agent, no genuine patriot has ever taken human progress to the next level without dwelling in this liminal space and its daunting complexities.
“No country that takes its future seriously; no country unafraid of truth, no country genuinely sincere about the war against decay and corruption will keep the likes of Sowore in prison.
“Our prison cells should be yearning for those kleptocrat and political scoundrels who pillage our nation’s treasury, who squander our hopes and keep Nigeria in that perpetual state of the Big-for-Nothing country.
“Omoyele Sowore is not the enemy the Nigerian government needs or should want to fight.
“The real enemies are out there; hunger and grinding poverty of the masses in the country of a few dubious billionaires, widespread insecurity of life and property, a creeping loss of faith in the very unity and corporate existence of the country, political leadership that does not know how and where to lead.
“This is why ‘revolution’ has suddenly become a scare word, and the current waver of that verbal red flag has been clamped down in custody. But let us remind ourselves of that common but no less significant axiom: you may imprison the man, but you can never imprison his ideas.”
Osundar said Sowore was a wrong prisoner being allowed to languish in detention and should, therefore, be released.
Pan-Niger Delta Forum, (PANDEF), the Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project (SERAP), Mr Femi Falana (SAN), Mr Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and the European Union (EU) among others have condemned Sowore’s arrest.
