Jimisayo Opanuga
Labour Party Vice Presidential candidate Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed has fired back at Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka over his criticism of his principal, Peter Obi.
Baba-Ahmed says Soyinka is “scared in advance” of the good deeds Obi will bring to Nigeria.
Soyinka, in a recent interview, said Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, is unfit to lead the country, citing Obi’s failure to reign in his supporters, popularly known as ‘Obidients’, online attacks on others with opposing views during the electioneering of the 2023 general elections.
The Nobel Laureate stated, “I hope for the sake of the nation that he doesn’t express interest in the next election because for me as a leader, if there was any proof that he was unfit to lead that country, it’s in the conduct which he encouraged among his followers. I know for a fact, and I can give you an instance that proves that he was in control of those forces.”
However, Baba-Ahmed, during an interview session with Arise Television on Friday night, reacting to Soyinka’s criticism, accused him of attempting to distract from the bad governance of President Bola Tinubu, whom he implied was Soyinka’s “principal.”
Baba-Ahmed added that what Soyinka is doing currently is an attempted distraction.
“The learned elder statesman, Prof. Wole Soyinka, is scared in advance about what good Peter Obi will bring to Nigeria. He’s scared in advance that the end is looking very likely for his principal, for bad governance. And what Soyinka is doing now is an attempted distraction. I beg you to excuse me from joining issues with Wole Soyinka, please,” Baba-Ahmed said.
“You and I have much, much better things to do. For all I know, he could continue to throw punches at my principal, at me, as small as I am. He could continue to do that. All I can do, I’d give him my heart, I will pray for him.”
Baba-Ahmed also expressed surprise that the Nobel Laureate would resort to insults, stating, “You see, intellect doesn’t give you the right to insult anybody.
“I remember this Soyinka insulting the late General Abacha. Insulting him to the core. Nothing gives him the right to do that. Abahca wasn’t an academic, he was a soldier for God’s sake and a good one for that matter in his own, in his own right.”
He, however, pleaded with the interviewer to put the Soyinka topic aside, stating that “we have better things to talk about.”
