Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party’s vice presidential candidate, has declined an invitation to a public discussion with Nigeria’s famed Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka.
Baba-Ahmed came under fire last month for saying on Channels Television that swearing in Ahmed Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s president on May 29, 2023, would be undemocratic.
Soyinka branded Baba-Ahmed remark as fascist in response.
In a statement headed “Fascism on Course,” Soyinka challenged the LP’s VP candidate to a debate on Friday.
Nevertheless, in a statement released on Saturday by the Obi-Datti Media Office, Baba-Ahmed stated that he could not accept Soyinka’s offer of a public discussion due to political and cultural considerations.
“Therefore, we state that the Labour Party’s vice-presidential candidate, Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, cannot take up Prof. Soyinka’s offer of a public debate, not out of cowardice, but for cultural and political reasons. Culturally it’s just not decent, their age and accomplishment gaps taken into account, for Datti to sit opposite the 88-year-old global icon and point out his folly to his face, even if the older man called for it. And politically, there is no basis for such a challenge because Prof. is not on the opposite ballots”, the statement partly reads.
