Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, says Peter Obi’s visit to him
was not a reconciliation meeting.
Recall that Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the
2023 elections, visited Soyinka on Sunday.
Obi had said his visit to Soyinka was intended to erase “the
needless misconceptions about the relationship between the great icon and the
obidient family”.
The development comes days after Soyinka came under
criticism on social media by Obi’s supporters, popularly known as “Obidients”.
Soyinka had, in a statement, said Obidients wear their
refusal to “accept constructive criticism as a badge of honour”, while
addressing criticism he received from supporters of the LP.
Commenting in a statement on Monday, Soyinka said there was
no issue to reconcile between him, Obi and the LP.
He described the word “reconciliation” as “most
inappropriate and diversionary invocation”.
“Before it gains
traction and embarks on a life of its own, I wish to state clearly that the
word ‘Reconciliation’, inserted into some reports of Peter Obi’s visit to me
yesterday, Sunday, May 7, is a most inappropriate, and diversionary
invocation,” Soyinka said.
“Let me clarify: I know the entity known as Peter Obi,
presidential candidate of the Labour Party. I can relate to him. I know and can
relate to the Labour Party on whose platform he contested elections.
“There are simply no issues to reconcile between those two
entities and myself.
“However, I do not know, and I’m unable to relate to
something known as the ‘Obidient’ or ‘Obidient Family’.
“Thus, albeit in a
different vein, any notion of reconciliation, or even relations – positive,
negative or indifferent – with such a spectral emanation is simply grasping at
empty air.
“During that meeting, attended by two other individuals
only, the word ‘Reconciliation’ was never bruited, neither in itself nor in any
other form. It simply did not arise.
“By contrast, there were expressions of ‘burden of
leadership’, ‘responsibility’, ‘apology’, ‘pleading’, ‘formal dissociation from
the untenable’, all the way to the ‘tragic ascendancy of ethnic cleavage’,
especially under such ironic, untenable circumstances. Discussions were frank,
and creative.
“The notion of Reconciliation was clearly N/A – Non
Applicable. It was never raised.”
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Oga Prof, how creative can ur preferred presidential candidate be in a discussion of national interest?
ReplyDelete5 pages.