Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, stated that he had warned Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, about the excesses of his supporters, the “Obidients.”
Soyinka made this statement in a message titled “Media responsibility” on April 4th. He included that his comments had been misrepresented in the reportage of an interview he granted to Channels Television recently, rendering his remarks entirely unrecognisable.
Soyinka was concerned about how the media conveyed spoken or recorded words to the public, especially in a time of civic uncertainty.
When remarks are taken out of context and provided with a sensational headline, the central intent of such comments becomes entirely unrecognisable.
Soyinka also criticised the physical violence inflicted on non-natives in Lagos in the lead-up and throughout the gubernatorial elections, condemning the menacing remarks made by a vice-presidential aspirant as unbecoming.
On three occasions, the Nobel laureate sent a message to Peter Obi that if he lost the election, it would be his followers who lost it for him.
Soyinka’s emphasis throughout the interview was that the final word on the election had yet to be pronounced: “that omission renders the full message tendentious!”
