6 Key Takeaways from Chimamanda Adichie's Interview on Arise TV
- Chimamanda Adichie, the Nigerian popular novelist, has commented on 6 trending issues in her recent interview
- The academic, among many issues, tackled Professor Wole Soyinka's fascist comment on Datti Baba-Ahmed, who was already telling the supreme court how its ruling should go
- Adichie also commented that President Muhammadu Buhari and INEC chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, lost the opportunity to become the hero of the 2023 election
Ikeja, Lagos - Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie was on live tv on Wednesday morning, April 12, to respond to different criticism and the trending issues surrounding the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
The Nigerian writer, in an open letter, called on President Joe Biden of the United States to withdraw his congratulatory message to Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, during the poll, citing inconsistency in the poll.
Source: Instagram
The comment has been generating reactions from different quarters of the country, including the camp of Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Reacting to the issues on Wednesday, Adichie touched 6 of the trending issues.
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The issues addressed are:
2023 elections deeply flawed, INEC's excuse of technical glitch not convincing
The writer insisted that the 2023 presidential election result was unacceptable, adding that the poll was Nigeria's disastrous ballot.
Speaking on her letter to the United States president, Adichie said she wrote the letter in order to preserve what she considered to be the truth.
Why I Support Peter Obi
The novelist also revealed that she was supporting Peter Obi because she felt he valued education, adding that he took the education system of Anambra state to the next level when he was the governor of the state.
Adichie added that Peter Obi visited her father to pay homage when he learnt he was the first professor of statistics in Nigeria.
Wole Soyinka wrong to use fascism
The Nigerian writer also criticized the position of the Nigeria Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka's description of Datti Baba-Ahmed, Peter Obi's running mate, who was dictating for the supreme court on how the judgment should go as fascist.
Adichie said:
"I don't see any reason why Mr. Datti Baba Ahmed's interview should be labelled fascist. I believe he was expressing a strongly felt point about the election, and his views are reasonable.”
Hope of the Opposition parties in court
She expressed optimism that the supreme court will do justice to the presidential election petitions before it.
According to her, since the issue is before the court, then intellectual Nigerians should not prejudge the decision of the supreme court.
INEC chairman, Buhari lost the chance to become heroes
The writer noted that rather than referring to Datti's comment as fascist, the Independent National Electoral Commission should be referred to as fascist because many Nigerians felt cheated by the outcome of the election.
She then claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari and the chairman of INEC missed the opportunity of being the hero of this election, considering the expectation of many Nigerians and Africans.
Comment on 25% in Abuja
She also commented on the position of the constitution on the status of Abuja, adding that the use of "and" in the Nigerian constitution created a vacuum.
However, many legal practitioners, including Femi Falana, have posited that the FCT would not enjoy any special status and shall be treated as a state, meaning the constitution did not specifically says any president must "win" 25% of votes in Abuja.
You can see the video here:
"I did not support Peter Obi because he’s Igbo": Chimamanda Adichie opens up
Legit.ng earlier reported that Chimamanda Adichie denied supporting Peter Obi of the Labour Party in the last presidential election because he is an Igbo man.
The Nigerian novelist disclosed that she supported Peter Obi because he took education to the next level when he was the governor of Anambra state.
Adichie also noted that Obi values education because he paid homage to her father when he learnt that he was the first professor of statistics in Nigeria.
Source: Legit.ng
