“It is most befuddling as well as disconcerting that a detribalised and activist like Soyinka would succumb to the ‘groupthink syndrome’ that subscribes to state capture by those belonging to the criminal fringe by any means, based on primordial considerations. We really appreciate him for at least giving some credits to Labour Party and its presidential candidate for breaking the monopoly of power hitherto held by the two other parties.”
These are the words of the leadership of Labour Party as it condemned a statement by the Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, that the leadership of the party knows that its candidate, Peter Obi, did not win the February presidential election.
Soyinka had on Wednesday at an event titled, “The Lives of Wole Soyinka — A Dialogue,” in South Africa said that the LP leadership was only feeding the people with falsehood.
According to him, he is very sure that Obi came third as announced by the umpire.
In the release titled, ‘Soyinka: Statesmen are not double-faced, not blind to truth,’ Ifoh noted that they couldn’t imagine that the playwright could stoop to the ‘groupthink syndrome’ based on “primordial considerations”.
He said, “Prof. Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian whose accomplishments in the literary world are without doubt intimidating. However, we beg to disagree with his prognosis and personal opinion on the performance of our party during the 2023 general elections. The facts are before the courts and, out of respect for our judiciary, we will reserve our comments until the Supreme Court makes a final pronouncement.
“We understand that the literary giant is human and thus susceptible to emotions and probably said what he said based on information made available to him by those who share the ‘Emilokan’ sentiment.
“It is most befuddling as well as disconcerting that a detribalised and activist like Soyinka would succumb to the ‘groupthink syndrome’ that subscribes to state capture by those belonging to the criminal fringe by any means, based on primordial considerations. We really appreciate him for at least giving some credits to Labour Party and its presidential candidate for breaking the monopoly of power hitherto held by the two other parties.”
Continuing, the spokesman also expressed disappointment that Soyinka decided to take sides rather than condemn some anomalies in the build-up to the last general elections and the abysmal performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Ifoh, however, concluded that Soyinka is a Nigerian and equally entitled to his opinion.
“The whole world followed the 2023 general election and there was a global condemnation on not only the outcome of the election but also the process, particularly, the ‘glitch’ that occurred only during the transmission of presidential result to IREV. We didn’t hear as much as a whisper from Kongi on reminding INEC to stand by its word.
