Unacceptable! Soyinka slams Labour Party’s Baba-Ahmed’s pronouncement

Nigeria’s literary maven, Wole Soyinka, has described as unacceptable the pronouncements made by Labour Party vice presidential candidate during a recent appearance on Channels Television interview.

Baba-Ahmed’s interview had generated litany of concerns from Nigerians with some branding it as a call to anarchy in the country.

Baba-Ahmed in the interview asked President Muhammadu Buhari and Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, not to be part of May 29 inauguration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose victory in the February 25 election he described as unconstitutional.

Aside from the fact that Baba-Ahmed had been accused of treason, the interview had forced Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to slam N5 million fine on Channels Television for allegedly breaking the broadcasting code.

Read also:Soyinka brands naira redesign ‘crime against humanity’, slams Emefiele

Speaking on the development in an Arise TV interview on Wednesday, Soyinka bluntly dismissed Baba-Ahmed’s pronouncements as fascist and ill-conceived.

The literary intellectual said such a language was unbecoming of a person thought to be lover of democracy.

“Nearly the entirety of the language is unacceptable. The interviewer asked him what would you do if the interpretation of the supreme court judgment goes against you, and he kept saying: no, it is not even open to analysis”, Soyinka said.

“This is trying to dictate to the supreme arbiter of the nation. The supreme court is an institution we should all refer to sooner or later, if not today, but tomorrow, if not this election, the next; but Datti kept saying, no, the supreme court has got, in its wisdom, to agree with me. That is what is known as fascistic language; it is not acceptable.

“And for me, it alienates people, it alienates even supporters. This is intimidation, and it is unacceptable, and I refuse to be part of that kind of language”, he added.

By Ambali Abdulkabeer

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now