The Vice-Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, on Friday, responded to a statement by Prof. Wole Soyinka, in which the Nobel laureate had said Peter Obi was ‘unfit” to govern Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview monitored on Arise News Channel, Baba-Ahmed, argued that Soyinka was scared of the positive developments Peter Obi would bring to Nigeria.
He explained: “The learned elder statesman, Prof. Wole Soyinka, is scared in advance about what good Peter Obi would bring to Nigeria. He is scared in advance that the end is still looking likely for his principal, for bad governance. What Soyinka is doing now is an attempted distraction.”
Baba-Ahmed said he was not going to join issues with the Nobel laureate, saying he would continue to pray for the elder statesman.
“The intellect does not give you right to insult anybody, I remember this Soyinka insulting late General Sani Abacha. Nothing gave him the right to do that,” he added.
Responding to a question of why Obi hasn’t made efforts to stop members of the Obidient from attacking Soyinka, Baba-Ahmed said, “There is no way Peter Obi and my humble self can control the Obidients. Peter Obi entered a canoe without a life jacket and he paid for it. So, it is not the work of Peter Obi to control the Obidients, it is the responsibility of Wole Soyinka to maintain his respect and dignity.”
Soyinka, had during an earlier interview, claimed that Obi encouraged his followers addressed as ‘Obidients’ to attack him and others with opposing views online in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election.
When asked what he thinks about the movement, Soyinka said; “It has to do with education. I didn’t read all these (insults by Obidient Movement) but of course, some links were sent to me, especially when facts were being manufactured.
“When I read these things, I was disgusted. There’s no other word for it. I really was disgusted and I know that it was orchestrated. I know that there is a relay mechanism, which is triggered into action by those who control what we call the trolls of the Internet, and so my disgust and contempt.”
Chuks Okocha
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