Following the outcome of the electoral poll result and declaration of Tinubu as the President-elect which has brought about mix feeling from the Obidient group, the Playwright, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has described Obidients as one of the most repulsive, off-putting concoctions he ever encountered in any political arena.
In his own terms, described Obidients as supporters of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who contested the February 25 presidential election.
The elder statesman spoke in a statement on Friday titled, ‘Fascism on course (I)’.
Earlier, Soyinka on Channels Television and later on Arise TV, condemned what he termed the fascist language of the vice-presidential candidate of the LP, Datti Baba-Ahmed, by attempting to dictate judgment to the Supreme Court during a Channels TV interview on the poll won by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.| Punch
Besides, Soyinka faulted voter suppression witnessed in some polling units in Lagos State during the March 18 governorship and House of Assembly poll among other issues.
The Nobel laureate on Tuesday in a statement titled, ‘Media responsibility’, also dwelt on related issues bordering on the presidential election, noting that his interview with Channels TV was distorted, thereby rendering his remarks completely unrecognisable.
But the Obidients trolled Soyinka online, abusing him and an ex-deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, who in a Tweet, identified Soyinka’s objectivity and described him as “a phenomenon that unlettered and uncultured people may not fully understand in an age of lazy social media in which many don’t read or think deep.”
Pre-empting that his position in the statement could generate more online attacks from the Obidients, Soyinka said, “I am well aware that the foregoing is further invitation for more nauseous bilge from the besotted. Please, be my guest. It is, after all, one of those special seasons of convergence of two seasons of self-flagellation.”
Condemning the N5m fine imposed on Channels TV by the National Broadcasting Commission over the controversial Datti interview, the essayist said he was willing to engage the LP vice-presidential candidate on the contentious interview or any of his nominees if Channels TV was willing.
He stated, “May I seize this opportunity, by the way, to condemn the sanctions imposed on Channels Television which anchored the performance of the LP candidate. As stated, I watched the programme keenly – saw the valiant efforts of the interviewer to ensure fair hearing.
“I fail to understand just where the station could be faulted, except from a disposition for injustice. To sustain that penalty is to give joy to others who turn Internet into a soakaway for their rancid emissions, yet feel that others should be silenced.
“If Channels TV feels up to it, I offer myself willing to engage Mr Datti – or any nominee of his – on its platform on this very bone of contention – one-on-one – without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator. That should be taken as a serious offer.”
(Upshotreports)