Playwright, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has described the \u201cObidient\u201d movement as one of the most repulsive, off-putting concoctions he ever encountered in any political arena.<\/p>\n
\u2018Obidients\u2019 is a term describing supporters of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who contested the February 25 presidential election.<\/span><\/p>\n The elder statesman spoke in a statement on Friday titled, \u201d Fascism on course (I).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Earlier, the essayist had, on Channels TV and later on Arise TV, condemned what he termed the fascist language of the vice presidential candidate of the LP, Datti Baba-Ahmed, by attempting to dictate to the Supreme Court during an interview on Channels TV over the poll won by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.<\/span><\/p>\n Besides, Soyinka faulted voter suppression witnessed in some polling units in Lagos State during the March 18 governorship and House of Assembly polls among other issues.<\/span><\/p>\n The Nobel laureate on Tuesday in a statement titled, \u201cMedia responsibility,\u201d also dwelt on related issues bordering on the presidential election, noting that his interview with Channels TV was distorted thereby rendering his remarks completely unrecognisable.<\/span><\/p>\n But the Obidients trolled Soyinka online, abusing him and an ex-deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, who in a Tweet, identified Soyinka\u2019s objectivity and described him as \u201ca phenomenon that unlettered and uncultured people may not fully understand in an age of lazy social media in which many don\u2019t read or think deep.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Soyinka, in his latest statement, said, \u201cIt 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 \u2013 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.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe 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. That aspirant\u2019s alleged gaffe cuts no ice with me.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFar more alarming was the grotesque fantasy of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court disguised as a wheelchair, zooming off in space to a secret meeting with other parties of the conflict. On its own, that is sufficiently scary. Swiftly followed thereafter by a television tirade of intimidation, it strikes one as more than the mere antics by the mentally deranged. The tactics are familiar: ridicule, incriminate, then intimidate. Objective: undermine the structure of justice. Just as a reminder: this writer was not being rhetorical when he declared, on exiting prison detention: Justice is the first condition of humanity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The instigating contest \u2013 Nigerian Democracy 2023 \u2013 has witnessed much that is innovative \u2013 largely in the retrogressive vein. Violence and ethnic profiling. \u201cSpiritual\u201d warfare in the shape of sacrificial rams to keep \u201cdisloyal\u201d communities under restraint \u2013 in short, intimidation yet again! Easily overlooked however are those missives of violence directed against dissenting voices, real or suspect. Such, for instance, were the virulent attacks and threats to the musician Seun Kuti, his family and iconic music Shrine. His crime consisted of nothing more than declaring the name \u201cObidient\u201d derogatory to his sense of civic dignity and activist history. Such beginnings \u2013 and instances are numerous \u2013 have culminated in the open intimidation of the Court of Last Resort, even before proceedings have begun.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBy the way, I do agree with Seun Kuti; \u2018Obidients\u2019 is one of the most repulsive, off-putting concoctions I ever encountered in any political arena. Some love it, however, and this is what freedom is about. Choice. Taste. Free emotions. By contrast, I have no quarrel with \u201cYes Daddy.\u201d Roman Catholics are used to saying \u201cYes, Father\u201d. Secularists say \u201cEnh, Baba.\u201d The context and content are what matters, and lies \u2013 where established \u2013 raise bothersome issues such as Integrity Deficiency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He added that in any adjudication, society finds it unacceptable that a party to the dispute resorts to influencing tactics by extrajudicial means \u2013 such as bribery, noting that intimidation and threats were merely the obverse complements of material inducement.<\/span><\/p>\n He stated, \u201cThose who fail to appreciate this are entirely free to their existence in an illusory world.<\/span><\/p>\n We shall add the following pointer for this particular electoral tussle \u2013 the news may be unpleasant, but here it comes. Quite a few pundits have set out in some impressive \u2013 not necessarily persuasive \u2013 detail the- possibility that the complainants in this presidential election are not as strongly planted on the victory podium as they presume \u2013 see, for instance \u2013 Ambassador Haastrup\u2019s fascinating analysis in Newspeak etc. April 6. Right or wrong? That is not the issue. What the nation needs to know right now is if you are planning to send assassins after such negative analysts.! Coming to terms with an unpalatable projected eventuality \u2013 sorry \u2013 possible eventuality, counsels deep reflection, not demonisation of the bearer of sour news. For the seriously committed, it requires pulling back the horns a little in order to regroup, rethink and resurge. Democracy is sometimes a long haul. Some of us have been at it for quite a while.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI am well aware that the foregoing is further invitation for more nauseous bilge from the besotted. Please, be my guest. It is, after all, one of those special seasons of convergence of two seasons of self-flagellation. Fasting makes bearers of constricted minds even more light-headed. Delusions fill the vacuum. Oh yes, could these rabid parochial minds of easy excitation also kindly stop flattering themselves that one\u2019s energies are consecrated solely to the nation space known as `Nigeria? The whines of \u201csilence\u201d are relative to the reading scope and world knowledge of idle complainants as well as their grasp of the chain of continuity. I choose my methods of intervention without the permission of social media border patrols, so where you find a gap, just pick up the baton where last deposited and stop whining and belly-aching \u2013 \u201che stopped talking all this while, why now?\u201d etc etc ad nauseum . Flat, easy disposable lies that gain traction by repetition. However, even more importantly, they remain irrelevant to the rights and wrongs of ongoing material issue. Sadly, these virtue vigilantes succeed with the ignorant and susceptible \u2013 especially among the younger, confused generation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe consequence is that the nation is plagued by fake CVs compiled by all kinds of amateur commentators, still wet behind the ears, who have too few truths to build on before they are corralled into positions of No-Retreat. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the effrontery of attempts to place the present contention on the same podium as the twenty-year old anti-Abacha struggle! This gross abuse of historic licence actually provides smug satisfaction for rookie activists. I advise them to seek out the school of survivors where pertinent lessons still exist for those with sufficient humility to learn before mouthing! Otherwise their world of false mythologies will collapse under their feet, and leave them dangling in the void.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Condemning the N5m fine imposed on the station by the National Broadcasting Commission over the Datti interview, the essayist said he was willing to engage the LP vice presidential candidate on the issue or any of his nominees if Channels TV felt up to it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He noted, \u201cMay I seize this opportunity, by the way, to condemn the sanctions imposed on CHANNELS Television which anchored the performance of the LP candidate. As stated, I watched the programme keenly \u2013 saw the valiant efforts of the interviewer to ensure fair hearing. I fail to understand just where the station could be faulted, except from a disposition for injustice. To sustain that penalty is to give joy to others who turn Internet into a soakaway for their rancid emissions, yet feel that others should be silenced.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf CHANNELS feels up to it, I offer myself willing to engage Mr. Datti \u2013 or any nominee of his \u2013 on its platform on this very bone of contention \u2013 one-on-one \u2013 without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator. That should be taken as a serious offer.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cProject NIGERIA, I must confess, has become near terminally soul-searing. Do I still believe in it? I am no longer certain but \u2013 first, we must rid ourselves of the tyranny of the ignorant and the opportunism of time-servers. In any case, there is not much else to engage one on a foundation of ownership stakes. There is of course, always the possibility of a Revolution, with a clarity of purpose and acceptance of all attendant risks, including costly errors. <\/span><\/p>\n Revolutions are not however based on the impetus of speculative power entitlement. No matter, until that moment, the structures that ensure just and equitable cohabitation must be protected from partisan appropriation \u2013 be it from material inducement, fake news, or verbal terrorism \u2013 the last being the contribution of one who is positioned to assume co-leadership of the nation, no less. Revolution is not about lining up behind the nearest available symbol. When a symbol does emerge however, we are still obliged to examine every aspect of what is fortuitously on offer, and continue to guard our freedoms every inch of the way. Before I take myself off for \u2013 well, next port of call \u2013 the final word goes to a favourite maverick, propagated even as he matched his words by action. I suspect that in this instance we find ourselves on opposite sides of the strategic fence \u2013 that is democracy. This now coopted watchword of his formulation remains apt, applicable to all who strive for authentic social transformation: Your mumu don do!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Playwright, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has described the \u201cObidient\u201d movement as one of the most repulsive, off-putting concoctions he ever encountered<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1240,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions\/1240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}