Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has disagreed with Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka’s assertion that supporters of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who’re generally known as Obidients, are fascists.
In an interview with Channels Television, Soyinka had accused the Labour Party Vice Presidential candidate, Baba Ahmed-Datti, of being fascist following an interview with Channels the place Datti stated the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, shouldn’t be sworn in.
Soyinka additionally accused Obidients of fascism over their alleged refusal to entertain corrective criticism as their “badge of honour”.
Speaking on Arise Television, writer Chimamanda Adichie made it clear that she admires Wole Soyinka however she doesn’t agree along with his current assertion. She added that fascist is a really sturdy phrase that can be utilized for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) however not for Datti and the Obidients.
She stated,
“I have a lot of love and respect for Prof Soyinka. I admire him, I respect him as a thinker, as a writer…”
She proceeded to reward his works.
She continued:
“But at the same time, I disagree very strongly with him about this particular issue. And actually because I respect Professor Wole Soyinka so much, I went back and watched the interview. I had watched it when it aired but I went back and watched it because I thought, ‘am I missing something?’ And I think fascist is a really strong word.”
However, she stated that INEC is responsible of fascism and lots of Nigerians really feel cheated by the electoral physique.
“Fascist can be used for INEC because many Nigerians feel cheated & gagged; with all the violence that occurred during the elections, that is Fascist,” Adichie stated.
She said additional that the 2023 election was unforgivably flawed and that President Muhammadu Buhari and INEC’s Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu “spectacularly wasted an opportunity for heroism”.
Chimamanda added that she wrote the letter to Biden as a result of she believes “it’s important to preserve the truth.”
The Half of a Yellow Sun writer stated: “I needed to say what occurred. And what occurred is that this was an election that was actually unforgivably flawed, and there’s proof for that and I felt it was essential to say that.
“And also I wanted to call out the US for what I consider a kind of two-facedness when it comes to Africa. So, the US has a long history of complicity in non-democratic elections on this continent. Recently, In Congo, two or three years ago, they endorsed an election that was an absolute sham. Then the same US will turn around and criticize Congo for not being democratic. So, my point was to say, be what you say that you are. You cannot criticize African countries for being undemocratic while at the same time endorsing something that is quite self-evidently undemocratic.”
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