Nigerian Nobelist Charged With Treason

Exiled writer Wole Soyinka -- winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature -- and 11 other Nigerian dissidents were charged with treason by the country's military government today in connection with a number of recent bomb blasts here.

There have been several bomb attacks around the country since December, including some on army buses that killed at least three soldiers and wounded dozens of others. Police have blamed Soyinka and the opposition National Democratic Coalition for the bombings; both he and the group have denied involvement.

Soyinka, a playwright and novelist and a leading opponent of Nigerian military leader Sani Abacha, fled to Europe and the United States more than two years ago. He strongly condemned the country's rulers last year in a book titled "The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis."

Soyinka said today that he is not surprised he had been charged with a capital crime. "We learned the decision to try us on treason charges had been taken before the recent violence. . . . The whole thing is orchestrated. Abacha is trying to get rid of us," Soyinka said by telephone from California.

"Abacha is intensifying his attempts to eliminate us. He is heading toward sentencing us to death in absentia. This is what he's gunning for. This is why we have been charged with treason," he said.

Along with Soyinka, others charged in absentia were exiled leaders of the opposition group, including former army chief Alani Akinrinade and former information minister Anthony Enahoro. Eight of the defendants are in Nigeria and appeared in court today.

The charges were filed just days before Nigeria holds local elections, the first multi-party ballot since the army nullified a 1993 presidential vote that was meant to restore democracy here. Soyinka and some of those charged with him are fighting for reversal of the annulment and for the release from prison of Moshood Abiola, who held a commanding lead in the vote when it was abrogated by the army.