Datti: Soyinka Is Irrelevant, Real Issue Is Nigerians’ Tolerance of Bad Governance

Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party’s 2023 vice presidential candidate, has labelled Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka as irrelevant and a mere distraction and, thus, not worth discussing.

He added that the Nobel prize winner is only  “scared in advance” of the positive changes Peter Obi could bring to Nigeria.

Datti made these remarks during an interview with Arise TV on Friday in response to Soyinka’s comment that the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, was unfit to lead the country due to the conduct of his supporters (Obidients).

Reacting to this, Datti argued that controlling the Obidients is not Obi’s responsibility but Soyinka’s duty to maintain his respect and dignity.

He pointed out that other Nobel laureates worldwide are usually loved and not insulted by their people in the manner Soyinka is being insulted by Nigerians.

He said:

The learned elder statesman, Professor Wole Soyinka, is scared in advance of the good Peter Obi will bring to Nigeria. He is scared that the end is still looking likely for his principal and bad governance.

What Soyinka is doing now is an attempted distraction, which I beg you to excuse me from engaging with. Let us put him and his likes aside. You and I have much better things to do, he said, emphasising that intellect does not grant the Nobel laureate the right to insult anyone.

Stating clearly that President Bola Tinubu and his presidency are irrelevant to him, Datti, however, expressed dissatisfaction over how docile and willing Nigerians are to take everything thrown at them.

He said, “This is a questionable constituted democracy where anything and everything can happen.

For a people ready to accept anything, then everything—a failed economy, deadly insecurity, aggravated corruption—will happen to them.

Nigerians, what we allow, so shall we live, Datti warned.

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