Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has said that the word “reconciliation” was never used during the visit of Peter Obi, the Labor Party presidential candidate, home on Sunday.
Soyinka, in a statement Monday in response to various accounts of the visit that have emerged, said the visit was not to repair any fences.
Soyinka, who described the word “reconciliation” as an “inappropriate and distracting invocation”, said she had no problem reconciling with Obi or the Labor Party.
“Let me clarify: I know of the entity known as Peter Obi, the Labor Party’s presidential candidate. I can relate to him. I know and can relate to the Labor Party on whose platform he ran in the election,” the statement read.
“There are just no reconciling issues between me and those two entities.
“However, I don’t know, and I can’t relate to something known as ‘Obident’ or ‘Obident Family’.
“Therefore, albeit in a different vein, any notion of Reconciliation, or even relationships, positive, negative, or indifferent, with such a spectral emanation is simply clinging to empty air.”
Mr Obi’s visit to Mr Soyinka comes days after the latter came under intense criticism on social media from supporters of the LP candidate, popularly known as “Obidients”, after he criticized the comments of Datti Baba-Ahmed, the LP’s vice-presidential candidate. LP, saying they contained “fascist language”.
The playwright had said in a statement that ‘Obidients’ shows his refusal to “accept constructive criticism as a badge of honour”, while addressing the criticism he has received from fans of the LP.
Visitation
Mr. Soyinka reiterated that the word “Reconciliation” was never mentioned during the meeting, either by itself or in any other form.
“It just didn’t come up. Instead, there were expressions of “leadership burden,” “responsibility,” “apology,” “plea,” “formal disassociation from the untenable,” up to the “tragic rise of ethnic divide,” especially under such ironic circumstances. unsustainable. The discussions were frank and creative.
“The notion of Reconciliation was clearly N/A – Not Applicable. It was never raised.
ALSO READ: A visit and the charm of ‘reconciliation’, by Wole Soyinka
“The following must be understood but never underestimated. What remains indelible from that orgiastic social media rave weekend was the opening up of the dark, putrid recesses of the national psyche that we like to pretend don’t exist. He invited, to minds seeking to comprehend reality, frightful variations on images of Dante’s Purgatory.”
Read below the statement of Mr. Soyinka:
A VISIT, and the CHARM of “RECONCILIATION”
Before it gains momentum and embarks on a life of its own, I wish to make it clear that the word “Reconciliation”, inserted in some reports of Peter Obi’s visit to me yesterday, Sunday May 7th, is a highly inappropriate and distracting invocation. . Let me clarify: I know of the entity known as Peter Obi, the Labor Party’s presidential candidate. I can relate to him. I know of and can relate to the Labor Party on whose platform you ran in the election. There are simply no issues to reconcile between me and those two entities. However, I don’t know, and I can’t relate to anything known as “Obident” or “Obident Family”. Therefore, albeit in a different vein, any notion of Reconciliation, or even relationships – positive, negative or indifferent – with such a spectral emanation is simply clinging to empty air.
During that meeting, which was attended by only two other people, the word “Reconciliation” was never heard, either by itself or in any other form. It just didn’t come up. Instead, there were expressions of “leadership burden,” “responsibility,” “apology,” “plea,” “formal disassociation from the untenable,” up to the “tragic rise of ethnic divide,” especially under such ironic circumstances. unsustainable. The discussions were frank and creative. The notion of Reconciliation was clearly N/A – Not Applicable. It was never raised.
The following must be understood but never underestimated. What remains indelible from that orgiastic social media rave weekend was the opening up of the dark, putrid recesses of the national psyche that we like to pretend don’t exist. He invited minds seeking to grasp reality to frightening variations on images of Dante’s Purgatory. A bottomless pit was exposed, at the bottom of which one glimpsed a throng of the damned, writhing in competitive lust for the largest of gangrenous ladles in a devilish broth. Leaning over the edge of that well for a long time was to get dizzy, with the risk of falling into the tureen of inhuman pus. Trying to navigate one’s own path, however cautious, along a mat stretched out over the infernal abyss, is an invitation to moral suicide.
For the serious, I call attention to the essays I have offered on the subject of Truth-Based Reconciliation and the ethical imperative of Restitution. More elaboration to come in DEMOCRACY PRIMER III – Bookcraft’s INTERVENTION series, now brought forward for publication on June 12, the turning point blackmailed from the current regime as the nation’s Democracy Day,
If, from now on, I comply with the pleas of several valuable and genuinely concerned addresses, and ignore further provocations, however vile, it is only because I also approve of Mohammed Ali’s strategy of Rope-a-Dope, where the blind threat. flailing desperately at the scornful manifesto of Truth.
Wole SOYINKA