Datti Baba-Ahmed, the 2023 vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has reacted to the remarks of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka about his running mate, Peter Obi.
Soyinka had said Obi should not vie for the presidency in 2027 because he is “unfit” to lead Nigeria.
Reacting, Baba-Ahmed said Soyinka’s comments on Obi, LP’s presidential candidate, should be dismissed as a distraction.
Speaking in an interview on Arise Television at the weekend, Baba-Ahmed said the playwright should rather respect himself instead of waiting for Obi to control the actions of his supporters.
The former senator said Obi would not join issues with Soyinka, adding that “intellect does not give one a right to insult anybody.”
His words: “The learned elder statesman is scared in advance about what good Peter Obi would bring to Nigeria. He’s scared that the end is looking very likely for his principal, for bad governance.
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“What Soyinka is doing now is an attempted distraction.
“Nobel laureates all over the world are loved and cherished by their people, not just their nationals but globally. I have never heard where Nobel laureates are insulted in the way that Wole Soyinka is.
“There is no way Peter Obi, with all the issues in front of him and my humble self, can control Obidients.
“Peter Obi entered a canoe without a life jacket and he paid for it. It is not the work of Peter Obi to control the Obidients, it is the responsibility of Wole Soyinka to maintain his respect and dignity.
“In the presence of all these politics, decent Nigerians should continue to offer respect to others.
“All he is trying to do is an attempted distraction which Peter Obi and I have excused ourselves from. We will not react to that Nobel laureate.
“What is Wole Soyinka at a time when the Nigerian armed forces are killing Nigerians by mistake? At a time when our currency is hopelessly depreciating and so many other issues.”
