Dear Mr Wole,
You’re being disingenuous sir.
Your attempt at the revisionist version of the recent happenings in our country is sad.
Our people say, “Where we expect to meet wisdom, if we meet folly there, it pains deeply.”
The part that irks me is the selective outrage.
Not once did Soyinka come out to speak against the violence and intimidation being perpetrated by actual fascists during the election.
Looks like he’s just woken up from his slumber.
Why are Obidients required to hold themselves to a higher standard of behaviour than the people who commit actual acts of violence against them?
I want to remind Soyinka that he’s no sacred cow as he himself must have realised.
I remember how easy it was for him to come out in protest against the democratically elected government of Goodluck Jonathan when he didn’t like how things were going in the country.
I haven’t seen him make one of such outings in all of the 8 years of APC.
Probably because he knows they won’t treat him with the civility that the GEJ government did. And that’s what makes it selective outrage for me.
It’s either that or cowardice. Complaining only when it’s safe.
Soyinka can either be an elder statesman and speak up whenever any form of injustice occurs or he can keep quiet and let the people fighting for their future go toe to toe with the people who are intent on keeping them in the bad situation we all find ourselves.
He shouldn’t only speak up when it’s relatively safe to do so.
How can Soyinka describe the Obidient movement as fascistic?
Does the honourable Nobel Laurette not realise that fascism is synonymous with violently suppressing opposition?
Is that not exactly what we witnessed in places like Lagos and Rivers during the election? Was it Obidients that wounded, injured and maimed their opponents?
I take personal exception to the senior citizen co-signing the dishonourable Lai Mohammed by using the same talking points.
It’s two-faced to present dishonest critism as a form of advice.
I humbly call on the honourable Nobel Laureate to keep from making comments that’s akin to giving a dog a bad name to hang it.
The worst weapon that the Obidients can be accused of using against their opponents is words. Tweets on twitter.
Anyone who doesn’t want to see/read these tweets can block/mute and simply move on.
How can tweets be fascistic?
Did supporters of APC not employ ethnic bigotry to whip up sentiments against the people they have termed strangers in their land?
Did they not employ actual physical violence and intimidation to keep them from exercising their civic rights? Is that not the actual definition of fascism?
It’s sad when an elder statesman such as the Nobel Laureate uses words to paint the victim as the aggressor.
Chances are that Soyinka hasn’t been insulted by anyone who identifies as Obidient in person. He’s judging solely off their online behaviour which I doubt he’s exposed to in any real way.
I’ll implore the Nobel Laureate to keep from making statements that can be used to paint the victim as the assailant as he’s a well respected voice and his sentiments may be falsely regarded as the truth amongst those who are not on ground and who depend solely on information coming from persons like him to judge the situation of our country.
Nobody is asking for his support - we have moved past that. We are not even asking him not to criticise the movement. It’s his prerogative.
What we are opposed to is wearing the cloak of an elder statesman to package aspersions as good advice and constrictive criticism.
Criticism goes both ways and not only when it’s convenient.
I believe it was the Late Martin Luther King that said:
“We must condemn those who are perpetuating the violence, and not the individuals who engage in the pursuit of their constitutional rights.”
Here’s his stand on actual riots when caused by injustice perpetrated by those who are favored by the status quo.
Surely, the Nobel Laureate must cut insulting tweets more slack in this case.
It’s a language of the frustrated.
Tweets cannot hurt you, knives and cutlasses wielded by APC thugs do.
A stolen mandate is the equivalent of forcefully silencing our hopes and aspirations for our country as expressed by our votes.
Support us, don’t support us.
Just don’t talk to us like you care about us when what you’re actually doing is giving us a bad name.
Sincerely,
Oluniyi Olóyè.
