Presidency attacks Soyinka, says coronavirus is a pandemic, not fiction

The Presidency has reacted to criticism from Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka over the way the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has been handling the coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria.

Soyinka criticized the President's decision to declare a lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State as a measure towards curbing the spread of the virus in the country.

According to the playwright, Buhari overstepped constitutional boundaries with the declaration made in a nationwide broadcast on Sunday.

In response to the criticism, the Senior Special Adviser to the President, Garba Shehu, advised the playwright to stick to writing fictions and leave the issue of coronavirus to science.

A statement issued reads: "Yesterday, the esteemed Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka made comments on the legal status and description of 14-day lockdown announced by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Prof Soyinka is not a medical professor. His qualifications are in English literature, and his prizes are for writing books and plays for theatres. He is of course entitled to his opinions – but that is exactly all they are: semantics, not science. They cannot – and should not – therefore be judged as professional expertise in this matter in any shape or form.

“Across the world – from parts of the United States and China, to countries including the United Kingdom and France, government – mandated lockdowns are in place to slow and defeat the spread of coronavirus. All have been declared, and all have been made necessary, based on medical and scientific evidence. The guidance of the Nigerian Government’s medical specialists is to advise the same.

“Prof Soyinka has also declared, doubtless based on his specialism as a playwright, that: ‘we are not in a war emergency’.

“Eminent scientists say otherwise: Dr. Richard Hatchett, Head of the International Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (and former Director of the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) has said, ‘war is an appropriate analogy’.

“Prof Anthony Fauci, Director of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force has said of the battle against the pandemic: ‘It’s almost like the fog of war’.

“As for the legality of the lockdown, the government’s primary duty in law and action is the defence of the people of Nigeria. We face a global pandemic. Nigeria is now affected.

"The scientific and medical guidance the world over is clear: the way to defeat the virus is to halt its spread through limitation of movement of people.

“Perhaps Wole Soyinka may write a play on the Coronavirus pandemic, after this emergency is over. In the meantime, we ask the people of Nigeria to trust the words of our doctors and scientists – and not fiction writers – at this time of national crisis”.