‘Intellect Doesn’t Give You The Right To Insult Anybody’ – Baba-Ahmed Slams Soyinka Over Comment On Obi

The Labour Party (LP) Vice Presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has berated Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka over his latest criticisms of his principal, Peter Obi.

CityNews reported that Soyinka, in an interview which has gone viral online, slammed Obi for allegedly condoning and encouraging the aggressive behaviour of his supporters, popularly known as Obidients, online.

The literary icon also accused the former Governor of Anambra State of dishonesty and misrepresentation of their discussion following their meeting at the outset of the controversy.

Soyinka also said that, for the sake of the country, he hopes Peter Obi won’t run for president in 2027.

However, speaking in an interview on Arise Television on Friday night, Baba-Ahmed said Soyinka’s latest remarks showed that he’s scared about the good things Obi will bring to Nigeria.

The LP vice presidential candidate said the playwright’s latest criticism of his principal is an attempt to distract Obi from his fight against bad governance under the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said: “The learned elder statesman Prof Wole Soyinka is scared in advance about what good Peter Obi will bring to Nigeria. He’s scared in advance that the end is looking very likely for his principal, for bad governance. And what Soyinka is doing now is an attempted distraction. I beg you to excuse me from joining issues with Wole Soyinka, please.

“You and I have much, much better things to do. For all I know, he could continue to throw punches at my principal, at me, as small as I am. He could continue to do that. All I can do, I’d give him my heart, I will pray for him.

“You see, intellect doesn’t give you the right to insult anybody. I remember this Soyinka insulting the late General Abacha. Insulting him to the core. Nothing gives him the right to do that. Abahca wasn’t an academic, he was a soldier for God’s sake and a good one for that matter in his own, in his own right. I beg you, let’s us put Soyinka in his likes aside, we have better things to talk about.”