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.
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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