Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party’s vice presidential candidate, has stated that there is no political foundation to discuss the outcome of the February 25 presidential election with Prof. Wole Soyinka.
In response to Soyinka’s one-on-one debate challenge regarding his opinions on the validity of inauguration of President-elect Bola Tinubu, Baba-Ahmed told the Nobel laureate to invite his preferred candidates to debate him instead.
In a statement issued by the Obi-Datti Media Office on Saturday, the LP vice-presidential candidate stated that his refusal to accept Soyinka’s offer was due to cultural and political considerations.
He stated that he would not debate the famed author because he was not on any of the opposing ballots in the election. Datti, on the other hand, stated that if Soyinka could utilize his influence to bring forth his favored candidates for the discussion, he would be happy to challenge them.
On Wednesday, March 22, Baba-Ahmed urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief Justice of Nigeria not to swear in Tinubu, whom INEC proclaimed the winner and issued him a certificate of return, claiming that proclaiming Tinubu the winner and providing him a certificate of return was a violation of the constitution.
The 53-year-old, who spoke on Channels TV’s Politics Today, went on to say that “whoever swears in Mr Tinubu” has “ended democracy” in Nigeria, a view that Soyinka and numerous other famous Nigerians disagreed with.
In response to Baba-Ahmed’s contentious remarks, the Nobel laureate called them a “kind of do-or-die attitude and provocation” that goes against democratic mindset.
Soyinka stated that the LP vice-presidential candidate attempted to “dictate to the supreme arbiter of the nation,” which was inappropriate.
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