Former Labour Party Vice Presidential candidate Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed has responded to Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka’s criticism of Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate.
Soyinka had stated that Obi’s inability to control his supporters’ online attacks on those with opposing views made him unfit to lead Nigeria.
Baba-Ahmed dismissed Soyinka’s comments as an attempted distraction and declined to engage with him further.
According to Baba-Ahmed, Soyinka’s behavior is motivated by fear of the positive change Peter Obi would bring to Nigeria.
He emphasized that intellect does not grant anyone the right to insult others, citing Soyinka’s past insults towards late General Abacha as an example.
“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 still looking very likely for his principal, for bad governance.
“What Wole Soyinka is doing now is an attempted distraction, which I beg you excuse me from joining issues with Wole Soyinka, please.
“You and I have 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. If he continues to do that, all I can do is to grieve in my heart and continue to pray for him.
“You see, intellect doesn’t give you the right to insult anybody. I remember this Soyinka insulting late General Abacha, insulting him to the core that he was daft. Nothing gives him the right to do that. Abacha was not an academic. He was a soldier for God’s sake. And a good soldier in his own way in his own right.
“I beg you, let’s push Soyinka and his likes aside; we have better things to talk about.
“Nobel Laureates are loved and cherished by their people. Soyinka keeps getting insulted, and it is his responsibility to maintain his dignity and respect, not Peter Obi’s.
“I could say a few things to Wole Soyinka that could destroy him for good, but I wouldn’t say that,” he said on Friday during an interview on Arise Television.
