Peter Obi’s visit wasn’t intended for “reconciliation,” as some sources have claimed, according to Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.
Following a recent disagreement between Obi’s fans, known as Obidients, and Soyinka over the latter’s criticism of the former Anambra running mate’s comment about the exercise, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate for the 2023 elections paid a visit to the literary giant on Sunday.
Following the visit, some media asserted that the LP flagbearer had made a gesture towards reconciliation. But Soyinka clarified that the visit wasn’t for that in a statement on Monday night.
In a statement he titled “A visitation and the allure of Reconciliation,” Soyinka said, “Before it gains traction and embarks on a life of its own, I wish to state clearly that the word ‘Reconciliation’, inserted into some reports of Peter Obi’s visit to me yesterday, Sunday, May 7, is a most inappropriate, and diversionary invocation.
“Let me be clear: I am familiar with Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s nominee for president, and I can identify with him. I am familiar with and relate to the Labour Party, on whose platform he ran for office. Simply put, there are no differences between those two entities and myself to be resolved.
The ‘Obidient’ or ‘Obidient Family,’ however, is something I am unaware of and am unable to relate to. Any idea of reconciliation or even relationships with such a spectral emanation, whether good, negative, or indifferent, are, therefore, albeit in a different vein, simply grabbing at thin air.
“The phrase ‘Reconciliation’ was never bruited during that meeting, which was only attended by two other people, neither in itself nor in any other manner. It just didn’t happen.
In contrast, there were statements about the “weight of leadership,” “responsibility,” “pleading,” “formal detachment from the untenable,” all the way to the “tragic ascendancy of racial cleavage,” particularly in such comical, untenable situations. The conversations were open and inventive. Reconciliation was obviously N/A, or not applicable, and never was it raised.
