Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has claimed that the electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu was aided by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, who parted ways with his erstwhile colleague, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar. Soyinka made this statement during a dialogue organized by ‘Africa in the World’ in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Soyinka characterized the Nigerian elections as a situation where a political party splits itself in two, particularly close to an election, leading to an outcome that might appear adversarial but is, in fact, a voluntary sharing of the spoils of war. He stated that the ultimate beneficiary could be an unregistered but loudly canvassed party known as the Interim Peoples Party (IPP), often linked to the military. Soyinka cautioned that history might repeat itself with the involvement of such political forces.
He also pointed out that, in this particular case, Peter Obi did not win the Nigerian 2023 elections, asserting that he and Atiku Abubakar donated the election outcome even before the voting took place.
Soyinka called on politicians to take responsibility for the consequences of their choices within democratic options and hinted at the role of the Supreme Court in the final decision on the matter.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Abayomi Arabambi, responded to Soyinka’s statement by agreeing with the Nobel Laureate, stating that Peter Obi never won the election. Arabambi criticized Julius Abure, the factional Chairman of the party, for reacting negatively to Soyinka’s statement, describing it as an affront and abuse.
Arabambi emphasized that the Labour Party acknowledged its loss in the election and criticized Obi and Abure for expecting to win based on assumptions and vague rhetoric without proof of majority votes.