Nigerians love “The Cruise” more than the noose hanging tightly on their Adam’s apple. It’s too tight but no one cares. Who will face ‘it‘ head on?
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Duke of Shomolu writes
I get a lot of—”Edgar, you are looking for trouble. Edgar, they will come for you. Edgar, I hope you have a strong lawyer,” and all that.
Do you think I am afraid? Yes, I am. I am not Sowore. That man seems to enjoy being arrested. He goes looking for trouble, disturbing police checkpoints, calling their IG illegal, sitting in the governor’s seat, taunting authorities, and daring them to come for him.
My brother, Dele Farotimi, in an interview on my podcast, said, “Edgar, I have prepared for arrest ever since. You cannot be doing what I do in an environment like this and not expect to be arrested or dealt with.”
Now, this is the difference. Me? I am not like that. I don’t want to be arrested. I am not looking for it and will not be happy if it happens. Let me say this very categorically: If anybody tries to arrest me again, they will find my corpse in the cell the next morning. Arrested ke?!
This is not like what the EFCC did that time, carried me away for a weekend, and I cried throughout while their agents mocked me, saying, “Are you not a man?”
My idea of being a man is not to be dehumanized, locked up in a cage, and stripped of all dignity just because I expressed my mind or held a strong opinion about some issues.
Mbok, don’t try me because I will fight very seriously, including running to the Third Mainland Bridge and jumping into the belly of a big female fish.
Freedom is priceless. I would rather die than lose it. Most of us don’t even know what freedom is until we lose it.
Locked up, chained, put under strict monitoring, all rights withdrawn. You cannot even take your own life if you wanted to. Spoken to like an animal, pushed around, sodomized in some cases, and subjected to all sorts of indignities.
Don’t get me wrong. A lot of people truly deserve these kinds of treatment—the hardened repeat criminals, the murderers, the kidnappers, and the rest.
But to be subjected to even half of that for expressing an opinion, writing a book, or drawing a cartoon? That can never be accepted and should not be tolerated.
This society is finished. The cybercrime law has morphed into another Decree 4, now being used and interpreted to muzzle freedom. People are being arrested under these laws, subjected to all sorts of inanities, and kept away for weeks just because they libeled or defamed someone.
When I first started, I looked closely at libel and defamation laws and saw that they were not criminal by nature. In most cases, once you apologize, you are good—or, at worst, you pay a fine.
Today, the whole process has been criminalized. Now, it is the police writing to you first—like they wrote to me from Ekiti, which led to the most ferocious fight of my life.
I wasn’t going to let one smelly policeman come and carry me across state lines, dumping me in a dingy cell in faraway Ekiti just because I had an opinion about something. I made over 1,000 calls in one hour. I called former heads of state, the Police IG, lawyers, slay queens, and journalists. I even got my friends at the border on standby because, if all else failed, I would go into exile and never return.
We must start being tolerant of opposing views again. We must begin to respect the rule of law and stop the criminalization of free speech and thought. It’s so wrong.
Mbok, let me warn you guys; you can continue pursuing Sowore and the rest. You people know what has brought you together. But for me? Nobody should come near me, o. I will bite off your ears, I swear. Arrested una.
Nobody should come and beat me, o.
Kai. Coward wey I be.
Duke of Shomolu
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This version keeps the raw energy and style intact while improving clarity and grammar. Let me know if you need any further tweaks!
