…Says “Obidients can’t stop me from telling truth“
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has said that the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is unfit to lead the country.
This, he said, had become evident with the conduct of his supporters, popularly known as ‘Obidients’, during electioneering of the 2023 general elections.
He said that Obi’s failure to reign on his supporters attacking others with opposing views online was a pointer that he is unfit to lead a country like Nigeria.
The literary icon also accused Obi, who is a former Anambra governor, of encouraging ‘Obidients’ to attack him and others with opposing views online.
Speaking in a recent interview, the Nobel laureate said he hoped the former governor won’t contest the 2027 presidential election.
Speaking on his experience with trolls online in a recent interview with Noble Nigeria, Soyinka said the episode won’t change him, adding that those expecting him to keep quiet should get their head examined.
On the ‘Obidient’ movement’s attack on his personality, he said, “Again, it has to do with education. I feel disgusted especially when facts are being ‘manufactured’. I read some of these things and I was disgusted. There is no other word for it, I really was disgusted. And I know it was orchestrated. The Internet has become so promiscuous; and I know there is a relay mechanism that is triggered into action by those who control the trolls of the Internet.
Justifying his claim that Obi was in control of the trolls, Soyinka said, “It’s simply because when he first came to visit me; you know, he did come at one time, and I watched him. I watched his actions and body language; it seemed to be very conciliatory. I remember the moment when he took out his (mobile device) after he made a statement like: ‘Oh don’t worry. You don’t have anything to worry about these people’. He was talking about ‘Obidients’. I remember he took out his phone, and he typed a message there. I was watching him very closely, I didn’t say a thing. And after that, everything seemed to be nice and cosy.
“But I saw and I read his statement about that meeting afterwards. The statement was a contrast to what actually happened, what we discussed; I mentioned it in my response. It was a misrepresentation of what happened, and I made sure that I put a statement out saying: ‘No, I’m sorry, this is not what was said. This language never came into it”.
The literary icon explained that it was surprising that Obi would, after the meeting, put out a different narrative of what really transpired. He, however, warned that if the trolls are not controlled, those instigating their actions would soon feel the wrath of what they have created.
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The Nobel laureate also said the supporters of Peter Obi, and others who are averse to contrary views can’t stop him from speaking truth to power. He said despite the attack on his personality by Obi’s supporters who are known as ‘Obidents’, during the build-up to the 2023 general elections, he would continue his style of putting out facts in his interventions.
Soyinka had in May 2023 come under criticism on social media by LP and Obi’s supporters for faulting some remarks made by the LP vice-presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed. The playwright had described Baba-Ahmed’s comments as “fascistic language”.
