Victor Ezeja
Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Kingsley Moghalu, has asked the supporters of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, popularly known as ‘Obidients’ to forgive him for calling them “unlettered and uncultured people of lazy social media age.”
Moghalu, a Political Economist, had on Thursday reacted to the criticism of Wole Soyinka by the Obidients over the latter’s comment about their conduct during and after the 2023 general elections.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelHe described ‘Obidients’ as “unlettered and uncultured people of the age of lazy social media who don’t read or think deeply.”
Prof Soyinka had described as “fascists” the remarks by the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed when he stated that it would be illegal to swear in Bola Tinubu as president on May 29 because he did not meet the constitutional requirement for the election. Soyinka said the comment is unbecoming, unacceptable, and amounted to dictating to the Supreme Court what to do.
Moghalu had on Thursday backed Soyinka for his stance on the matter, following the backlash from the Obidients for describing them as “unlettered and uncultured people of the lazy social media age,” he tendered apology saying that on second thought, he felt it could be misconstrued to be a harsh judgment on the citizens.
The former CBN deputy governor who had also contested for the office of the President of Nigeria in the 2019 elections, made the public apology via his verified Twitter handle on Friday.
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His tweet reads: “In my tweet yesterday on Prof. Wole Soyinka’s comment on Datti Baba Ahmed’s own comments about the 2023 presidential election, I said WS is a principled fighter for justice and a phenomenon ‘that unlettered and uncultured people may not fully understand in an age of lazy social media’ in which many don’t read or think deeply.’
“I want to apologize FOR THE PHRASE IN QUOTATION MARKS which, on second thought, can be misconstrued as a harsh judgment on citizens who are hurting from the outcome of the elections. That was not my intention.”
He further advised that supporters of all leading political parties should understand that in a political season like this, there are bound to be opposing views and they should be prepared to tolerate such while pushing theirs in the political stage.
“While we all bear responsibility for the words we choose to use (and I have the utmost respect for Prof Soyinka and Dr. Datti-Ahmed), I caution again, however, that there will always be different voices with different beliefs in a democracy.
“These voices are NOT illegitimate simply because we disagree with them or they do not agree either with our political preferences or with whatever manner in which we choose to express our views. This applies across the board to the supporters of ALL the leading candidates.
“This is a difficult time for our country, but I hope we can still be civil and measured even as we may disagree,” Moghalu wrote.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
