Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has challenged the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 election, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, to a one-on-one debate on Channels Television regarding the nation’s democracy.
Soyinka who has been critical of the Labour Party’s vice-presidential candidate’s recent comments in a statement titled “Fascism on Course,” challenged Baba-Ahmed to a debate as regards his claims of Nigeria’s democracy ending if the President-elect, Asiwasju Bola Tinubu, is sworn in on May 29.
Reacting to the comment, the renowned playwright said, “May I seize this opportunity, by the way, to condemn the sanctions imposed on CHANNELS Television which anchored the performance of the LP candidate.
“As stated, I watched the programme keenly – saw the valiant efforts of the interviewer to ensure a fair hearing.
“I fail to understand just where the station could be faulted, except a disposition for injustice. To sustain that penalty is to give joy to others who turn the Internet into a soakaway for their rancid emissions, yet feel that others should be silenced.
“If CHANNELS feel up to it, I offer myself willing to engage Mr Datti – or any nominee of his – on its platform on this very bone of contention – one-on-one – without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator.
“That should be taken as a serious offer,” Soyinka said.
Recall that Datti Baba-Ahmed had called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief Justice of Nigeria not to swear in Tinubu, who was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the winner of the March 18th presidential election.
The Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, who spoke as a guest on Channels TV’s Politics Today, insisted that declaring Tinubu a winner and issuing him a certificate of return was against the constitution.
According to him, “whoever swears in Mr Tinubu” has “ended Democracy” in Nigeria.
The interview has since, triggered criticisms from political stakeholders as well as a N5 million fine for the TV station.
Reacting to Baba-Ahmed’s threats, Soyinka described the remarks as a “kind of do-or-die attitude and provocation” that goes contrary to democratic disposition.
He said Baba-Ahmed tried to “dictate to the supreme arbiter of the nation,” describing his comment as unacceptable.
Soyinka’s comments on Baba-Ahmed, however, attracted backlashes from the supporters of the Labour Party as they dragged Soyinka on social media.
