TheCable

The Obi-Datti campaign team says Datti Baba-Ahmed, the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), will not debate with Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate.

The campaign team said Baba-Ahmed rejected Soyinka’s offer for a debate “not out of cowardice, but for cultural and political reasons”.

BACKGROUND

On March 22, Baba-Ahmed, in an interview with Channels TV, said the country has no president-elect despite the declaration of Bola Tinubu, flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The LP vice-presidential candidate said Tinubu would be leading an unconstitutional government if sworn into office because the APC candidate “has not met requirements of the law”.

The interview generated criticism from political stakeholders and also attracted a N5 million fine to Channels TV by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

Reacting to Baba-Ahmed’s comment, Soyinka said the LP vice-presidential candidate’s words contained “fascistic language”.

The Nobel laureate added that he has “never heard anyone threaten the judiciary on television the way Datti did”.

In a write-up titled “Fascism on Course”, Soyinka challenged Baba-Ahmed to a debate over the comment that the president-elect “did not meet constitutional requirements”.

PRESENT YOUR PREFERRED CANDIDATE

The Obi-Datti media office, in a statement released on Saturday, asked Soyinka to present his preferred presidential candidate, who shunned debates during the campaign, for a one-on-one with the LP vice-presidential candidate.

“One of those who should ordinarily and rightfully be honoured as the conscience of the nation, Prof Soyinka is now criminalising dissent and in fact weighing in on the side of fraud and injustice,” the statement reads.

“We state therefore that the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party, 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 old man called for it.

“And politically there is no basis for such a challenge in that Prof is not on any of the opposite ballots.

“If however, he can use his influence to drag his preferred candidates, who resisted debates throughout the campaign, to the studio this second, Datti says he is more than willing to take them on.”