The presidency says Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, is entitled to his opinion on his comments on the legal status and description of the 14-days lockdown announced by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said that Professor Soyinka is not a medical professor because his qualifications are in English literature, and his prizes are for writing books and plays for theatres.
While noting that Soyinka is entitled to his opinion, Shehu said it is semantics and not science.
The statement noted that across the world from parts of the United States and China, to countries including the United Kingdom and France, the 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 presidential media aide insisted that Professor Soyinka has also declared doubt based on his specialism as a playwright, that Nigeria is not in a war emergency.
As for the legality of the lockdown, the statement concludes that the government of Nigeria’s primary duty in law and action is the defence of the people of Nigeria who face a global pandemic.
