I Warned Peter Obi About Obidients’ Excesses – Soyinka

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, said he warned the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi on excesses of the his supporters, otherwise known as ‘Obidients.’

Soyinka, stated this in a statement titled, “Media responsibility,’’ on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the elder statesman said his recent interview with Channels Television was misrepresented, with his remarks rendered unrecognisable.

The TV station had aired a one and half-hour interview with Soyinka a week ago on Monday.

He maintained that his rejection of fascism wasn’t new and that on three occasions, he was able to send a message to Obi, that, if he lost the election, it would be his followers who lost it for him.

He stated, “What I have read – at least, thus far – this morning, extracted from a one-and-a-half long interview, conducted a week ago with Channels Television, brings once more to the fore, the critical responsibility of the media in transmitting the spoken, even recorded word to the public.

“This is especially crucial in a time of civic uncertainty. When remarks are taken out of context, spliced into a new one, provided a sensational headline, distortions become stamped on public receptivity, and the central intent of one’s remarks becomes completely unrecognisable.

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“I denounced the menacing utterances of a vice-presidential aspirant as unbecoming. It was a gladiatorial challenge directed at the judiciary and, by implication, the rest of the democratic polity.

“But what on earth has happened to my even more urgent condemnation of the physical violence inflicted on those designated “strangers” in Lagos in the lead up to, and during governorship elections?

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“This prejudicial selectivity is a betrayal of trust, and I find it contemptuous of public deserving. My critique of incipient fascism in the movement remains grounded in indisputable evidence.”

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