Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka said the inability of the supporters of the Labour Party, LP, otherwise known as Obidients, to accept criticism has now become their badge of honour.
Soyinka disclosed this in a statement titled “Fascism on Course,” which was released on Friday.
The literary icon said Obidients have worn their refusal to accept constructive criticism as a badge of honour.
Noting that the Labour Party was sowing seeds of fascism and generating a climate of fear, Soyinka asked the Obidients to refrain from attacking and embrace fair hearing in situations of conflict.
He said, “It would appear that a record discharge of toxic sludge from our notorious smut factory is currently clogging the streets and sewers of the Republic of Liars.
“It goes to prove the point that provoked the avalanche EXACTLY! The seeds of incipient fascism in the political arena have evidently matured. A climate of fear is being generated.
“The refusal to entertain corrective criticism, even differing perspectives of the same position has become a badge of honour and certificate of commitment.
“What is at stake, ultimately is – Truth, and at a most elementary level of social regulation: when you are party to a conflict, you do not attempt to intimidate the arbiter;
“…attempt to dictate the outcome, or impugn, without credible cause, his or her neutrality even before hearing has commenced. That is a ground rule of just proceeding. Short of this, Truth remains permanently elusive.
“The ensuing cacophony has been truly bewildering. It strikes me as a possible ploy to smother recent provocations by other, far more trenchant issues, such as revelations of declarations of a religious war.
“If so, let it be known that I have long declared war against religious fundamentalism, the nature of which justifies the butchery, kidnapping and enslavement of students in the name of religion,” Soyinka stated.
Recall that Soyinka, on Wednesday, described as unbecoming and unacceptable, the remarks by the vice-presidential candidate of the LP, Datti Baba-Ahmed, saying they contained “fascistic language.”
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.
The Nobel laureate had said he warned presidential candidate of the LP,Peter Obi that his supporters may cost him the election.
Meanwhile, Soyinka’s comments on Baba-Ahmed, however, attracted backlashes from the supporters of the Labour Party as they dragged Soyinka on social media.
A tweet from a Twitter user reads, “Wole Soyinka, an elder statesman is more angry about Datti’s Response to the fraudulent elections than the fraudulent elections itself. Some Elders are overrated,”
“Don’t forget Wole Soyinka was one of those people that foisted Buhari on us. He criticized GEJ so much and even likened him to King Nebuchadnezzar. He also allegedly called his wife Hippotamus in 2013. When they try to gag you with respect our elders, show them this tweet,” reads another tweet.
