The Labour Party (LP) has disagreed with Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on his position on the outcome of the 2023 presidential election as regards its candidate, Peter Obi.
The party in a statement on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiorah Ifoh condemned the statement by Soyinka and added that the literary giant is speaking based on information given to him by those who share the ‘Emilokan sentiment’.”
OsunDailyNG recalls Soyinka on Wednesday at an event in South Africa, claimed that Peter Obi did not win the February 25, 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. He further stated that the leadership of the Labour Party (LP) knows that Obi did not win the election and is trying to force their lies on others.
The Nobel laureate stated this while speaking at an event titled “The Lives of Wole Soyinka — A Dialogue” organised by Africa in the World.
However, in a response on Thursday, the LP spokesperson said Soyinka as a human being, has been overtaken by emotions based on what some people told him.
The statement added that Soyinka was in Lagos, Nigeria during the election and witnessed the violence that marred the polls in certain locations in the country even right under his nose but failed to condemn such actions.
Obiorah added that while the Labour Party would not want to join issues with Soyinka too much because of his respected status and the fact that the presidential election outcome is pending in court, it remains important to point out Soyinka’s wrong prognosis and the expectation for him to remain a statesman.
The party in the statement said, “We understand that the literary giant is human and thus susceptible to emotions and probably said what he said based on information made available to him by those who share the ‘Emilokan sentiment’.”
“The Labour Party took note of the statement that emanated from the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka who as an institution we have the utmost respect for. He is a Nigerian whose accomplishments in the literary world are without doubt intimidating.
“However, we beg to disagree with his prognosis and personal opinion on the performance of our party during the 2023 general elections. The facts are before the courts and out of respect for our judiciary, we will reserve our comments until the Supreme Court makes a final pronouncement.”
“In Yoruba, ‘Gbajue’ refers to fraudulent activities like age, name or certificate forgery, 419 or narcotics trafficking, all of which are issues in the 2023 elections but not on the Labour Party’s part.
“‘Gbajue’ in Yoruba also literally means ‘slap him/her in the face.’ Have all Nigerians not been slapped sufficiently in the face? Thanks to this man of letters for bringing this out albeit, advertently.
“It’s rather interesting that the erudite Prof. Soyinka who owned up to having an electoral “monitoring unit” conveniently glossed over INEC’s legerdemain leading to substantial non compliance and erosion of constitutional dictates, just as he conveniently glossed over the INEC’s advanced ‘gbajue’ of 25 February that has surreptitiously installed the King of ‘gbajue’ in Aso Rock.
“It is most befuddling as well as disconcerting that a detribalized and activist Soyinka would succumb to the groupthink syndrome that subscribes to State Capture by those belonging to the criminal fringe by any means, based on primordial considerations.
“We really appreciate him for at least giving some credits to Labour Party and its Presidential candidate for breaking the monopoly of power hitherto held by the two other parties. We also noted his admission of his willingness to be part of a demonstration which would be based on the banner of truth.
“However we are aware that Soyinka resides in Lagos state and he was in Nigeria on February 25 when elections held in Nigeria. He watched probably with a glee when a certain individual in Lagos warned non-indigenes to vote a particular political party or risk being deported to their place of birth, and he never condemned it.
“He was there when ballot boxes were snatched by thugs in a polling booth right in front of his house, he didn’t condemn it. We are still looking for where he came out to condemn the unprovoked attacks on our supporters in Lagos by members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, during the last elections.
“The whole world followed the 2023 general election in Nigeria and there was a global condemnation of not only the outcome of the election but also the process, particularly, the ‘glitching’ incidence that occurred only during the transmission of presidential result to IREV. As someone who is known to demonstrate based on truth, we didn’t hear as much as a whisper from Kongi reminding INEC that stand by its word.
“He also watched when Labour Party provided evidence of several defaced result sheets permitted and uploaded to the IREV by INEC, particularly in places where Labour Party won, again the great Soyinka was astonishingly mute.
“We will not allege selective amnesia as the reason for Soyinka’s wrong prognosis but we would have expected him to be a statesman which we thought he was by remaining on the side of caution and not exhibiting dual character of someone who may be blinded by some chauvinistic tendencies.
“We would rather keep our impression about his recent dual personality with us. We want to also let him know that building a New Nigeria is a dream which time has come and Nigerian youths will not relent until such dream is realized.”
