Chimamanda counters Soyinka’s Fascist comment, backs Datti Baba-Ahmed

Chimamanda counters Soyinka’s Fascist comment, says it’s a strong word, backs Datti Baba-Ahmed

Award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has criticised Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka for labelling as fascist the remark made by Labour Party vice-presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed regarding the general elections.

According to Chimamanda, she has a great deal of respect for Soyinka, but disagrees strongly with his interpretation of Baba-Ahmed’s remark.

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This was her comment during an interview with Arise TV.

“I have a lot of respect for Prof. Soyinka, I admire him, I respect him as a thinker, a writer, I think everyone should read The Man Died, Ake: The Memoir is beautiful, but I strongly disagree with him on this particular issue, and because I respect Prof. Soyinka so much, I went back and watched the interview, and I believe fascist is a very strong word.

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“We use it now to describe authoritarianism that is often populist and right-wing, such as Hungary and the former American president, and if you look at those situations, you can see why they have been labelled fascist, but I didn’t see why Mr. Datti Baba-Ahmed’s interview would have been labelled fascist.

“I believe he was making a very passionate argument regarding the election. I believe a charitable interpretation of Professor Soyinka’s remarks is that he is not known for his restraint in language, which may explain where the term “fascist” originated.

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Recall Soyinka criticised the VP of the LP’s request to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief Justice not to swear in President-elect Bola Tinubu.

Baba-Ahmed insisted that declaring Tinubu the victor and issuing him a certificate of return violated the constitution.

In his response, Soyinka stated that such a statement is unacceptable because it alienates the people and uses fascistic language.

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