Despite vociferous denouncement and tirade from supporters of Peter Obi on social media, as well as a reaction from Labour Party (LP) over his comments that the opposition party knew Obi lost the February 25, 2023 presidential election but wants to force lies on Nigerians, Africa’s first winner and Nigeria’s only recipient of the Nobel Laurel in Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday, insisted that both Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not win the election.
In a doubling down on his earlier assertion made on Wednesday during an event titled, ‘The Lives of Wole Soyinka – A Dialogue,’ organised by Africa in the World in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Soyinka said the two candidates, who ran a joint ticket on the PDP platform in 2019, donated the election voluntarily to President Bola Tinubu by running as separate candidates.
The Nobel Laureate made his fresh intervention on the thorny issue through a statement from Stellenboch, following angry reactions by supporters of Obi.
In the statement he personally signed, titled, ‘The Cape Town Re-entry,’ Soyinka said: “The mistake we all continue to make is our insistence on regarding the recent Nigerian elections as an adversarial thriller. The contrary is the truth. The ballot tally accurately reflected what happens when a political party splits itself in two, especially so critically close to an election. What promised to be a spectacular contest is transformed into a feast of voluntary donation of the spoils of war.
“That, however, is not always the ultimate destination – the re-gifting may continue, prodded by a sudden surge of regret. There remains, lurking in the background, a far more potent beneficiary. In this case, we easily recall it as the unregistered but loudly canvassed IPP – the Interim Peoples Party, usually to be found in bed with the military.
“The notorious Datti interview, menacing, intimidating and unambiguous, sets the scene for such re-entry. Then, history repeats itself over and over again, as currently manifested along the West African sub-region. The ‘call to arms’ is made literal by those whose trade is precisely that of arms.
“Barring such abrupt ‘patriotic intervention’, however, the last word belongs to the Supreme Court. Until that conclusive hour, wherever and whenever the subject turns to the Nigerian elections, my contribution can be taken for granted in advance: Peter Obi did not win the Nigerian 2023 elections.
Jointly with his erstwhile colleague of the PDP, Abubakar Atiku, they donated the outcome, even before the voting.
“Let politicians and their cohorts learn to take responsibility for the consequences of their choices within democratic options.” Recall that in March, shortly after the elections, Soyinka and LP were at loggerheads over comments made by Baba-Ahmed Datti, Obi’s running mate, on the outcome of the presidential election.
On March 22, Baba-Ahmed, in an interview with Channels TV, said the country has no president-elect despite the declaration of Tinubu, flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Baba-Ahmed said Tinubu should not be sworn in as president because he “did not meet requirements of the law.” But reacting to the comment, Soyinka had said the LP vice presidential candidate’s words contained “fascistic language” and that he has “never heard anyone threaten the judiciary on television the way Datti did.”
