Chimamanda Adichie’s Letter To Biden Petty, Reflection Of Colonial Mentality – Keyamo
Official Spokesperson of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, APC PCC and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Festus Keyamo has hit Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie over her open letter to President Joe Biden on the 2023 general elections in Nigeria.
Recall that Adichie had published an open letter, titled, “Nigeria’s Hollow Democracy: Why is America congratulating the winner of this disastrous election?” addressed to Biden on Thursday.
The letter partly reads, “I hope, President Biden, that you do not personally share this cordial condescension. You have spoken of the importance of a “global community for democracy,” and the need to stand up for “justice and the rule of law.”
“A global community for democracy cannot thrive in the face of apathy from its most powerful member. Why would the United States, which prioritizes the rule of law, endorse a president-elect who has emerged from an unlawful process?
“Has the United States once again decided that what matters in Africa is not democracy but stability? (Perhaps you could tell British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who quickly congratulated Tinubu, that an illegitimate government in a country full of frustrated young people does not portend stability.)”
But, Keyamo, in a statement via his verified Twitter handle on Friday described the letter as petty and reflection of colonial mentality.
He stated, “In global diplomacy and international relations, Presidents of countries make decisions and take actions about other countries’ affairs (albeit within the limits of sovereignty of States in International Law) based on reports from official and diplomatic sources likely to have been conveyed through well-established channels of communications.
According to Keyamo, the long epistles written in flowery or purple prose by bitter supporters of sore losers, posing as ‘concerned citizens’ (but in reality actuated by ethnic politics) do not fall within these official or diplomatic sources.
The APC spokesperson further stated, “It is befuddling that someone often celebrated for using a God-given talent to promote our African values, will so tragically degrade that same ethos by penning a letter that is so petty, so grovelling in its tone in urging a single foreign power to withhold a mere congratulatory message to our President-elect as if that is what actually validates our own democratic identity.
“It reflects a pathetic colonial mentality. It is even more ironic to realise that the same foreign power to which the obsequious appeal is directed is still grappling with the credibility of its own internal democratic process that produced its present leadership.
“More tragic is that some rabid supporters here are falling over themselves in deluded ecstasy for such a worthless letter that may not even be considered worthy enough, in a diplomatic sense, for the attention of even a stenographer to an Under Secretary in the US.
“Such only paints the picture of a band of drowning supporters clutching at any straw to stay afloat. As for the empirical fallacies contained in the letter, I will not bother myself here with a lengthy response as enough have been said in the last few weeks in respect of those specific issues and all the issues are before our Justices awaiting adjudication.
“But I have bad news for them: the stenographer will probably toss the letter into a trash bin with the conclusion that it is no more than the tantrums of a Trump reincarnate in Nigeria – those who refuse to accept obvious defeat! Yes, the US has the likes of that writer in their midst too!” he said.
