Wole Soyinka reveals warning to Peter Obi on excesses of his supporters, ‘Obidients’

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has expressed his disappointment over the misrepresentation of his recent interview with Channels Television. The interview, which lasted for one and a half hours, touched on several topics, including the excesses of the supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, whom he referred to as “Obidients.”

In a statement titled “Media Responsibility,” Wole Soyinka highlighted the critical responsibility of the media in transmitting the spoken and recorded word to the public, especially in a time of civic uncertainty. He lamented that when remarks are taken out of context, spliced into a new one, and provided a sensational headline, distortions become stamped on public receptivity, and the central intent of one’s remarks becomes completely unrecognizable.

Soyinka emphasized his denouncement of the menacing utterances of a vice-presidential aspirant as unbecoming, which he believed was a gladiatorial challenge directed at the judiciary and, by implication, the rest of the democratic polity. He expressed his concern over the prejudicial selectivity of the media, which he considered a betrayal of trust and contemptuous of public deserving. Soyinka noted that his critique of incipient fascism in the movement remains grounded in indisputable evidence.

The Nobel laureate reiterated that throughout the interview, he continued to stress that the final word had yet to be pronounced on the elections, and that omission renders the full message tendentious. He also revealed that he had sent a message to Peter Obi on three occasions, warning him that if he lost the election, it would be his followers who lost it for him. Soyinka expressed his disappointment in watching Obi’s lieutenant, a crucially positioned voice of a movement that has “broken the mold,” threaten the totality of social existence.

Soyinka questioned whether Donald Trump’s ideology is the ideal template for a burgeoning democracy in the nation, irrespective of our ideological leanings. He also expressed his concern over the alleged complaint by him of people not following “instructions.” He clarified that he is not a member of the Labour Party, so giving “instructions” cannot become his role. Soyinka noted that he, like a number of others, has admittedly contributed to the making of this moment going back several years, and it is painful to have the followers of such a movement send it slithering backwards and down the fascistic slope.