NewStats: 3,261,180 , 8,173,313 topics. Date: Wednesday, 28 May 2025 at 01:20 PM 6x6k

Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, has challenged Datti Baba-Ahmed, Vice-Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) to a live debate on national television.

On March 22, in an interview with Channels TV, Datti said the country has no president-elect despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcing Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.

The LP vice-presidential candidate said Tinubu would be leading an unconstitutional government if sworn into office because the APC candidate “has not met requirements of the law”.

The interview elicited criticism from political stakeholders as well as a N5 million fine for the TV station.

Reacting in a chat with Arise TV on Wednesday, Soyinka said the remarks are a “kind of do-or-die attitude and provocation” that goes contrary to democratic disposition.

He added that the LP vice-presidential candidate tried to “dictate to the supreme arbiter of the nation”, adding that it was unacceptable.

However, Soyinka’s statement has earned him criticism and abuse from the ‘Obidients’, especially on social media platforms.

Reacting in a statement on Friday, the Nobel laureate condemned the fine slammed on Channels Television for airing the ‘incisive interview’ with Labour Party vice presidential candidate.

Soyinka said he was willing to engage Datti or any nominee of his on the platform “on this very bone of contention – one-on-one – without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator.”

He said, “May I cease this opportunity, by the way, to condemn the sanctions imposed on CHANNELS Television which anchored the performance of the LP candidate. As stated, I watched the programme keenly – saw the valiant efforts of the interviewer to ensure fair hearing. I fail to understand just where the station could be faulted, except from a disposition for injustice.

“To sustain that penalty is to give joy to others who turn Internet into a soakaway for their rancid emissions, yet feel that others should be silenced. If CHANNELS feels up to it, I offer myself willing to engage Mr. Datti – or any nominee of his - on its platform on this very bone of contention – one-on-one – without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator. That should be taken as a serious offer.

“Project NIGERIA, I must confess, has become near terminally soul-searing. Do I still believe in it? I am no longer certain but - first we must rid ourselves of the tyranny of the ignorant and the opportunism of time-servers. In any case, there is not much else to engage one on a foundation of ownership stakes.

“There is of course, always the possibility of a Revolution, with a clarity of purpose and acceptance of all attendant risks, including costly errors. Revolutions are not however based on the impetus of speculative power entitlement.

“No matter, until that moment, the structures that ensure just and equitable cohabitation must be protected from partisan appropriation - be it from material inducement, fake news, or verbal terrorism – the last being the contribution of one who is positioned to assume co-leadership of the nation, no less. Revolution is not about lining up behind the nearest available symbol. When a symbol does emerge however, we are still obliged to examine every aspect of what is fortuitously on offer, and continue to guard our freedoms every inch of the way.

“Before I take myself off for – well, next port of call – the final word goes to a favourite maverick, propagated even as he matched his words by action. I suspect that in this instance we find ourselves on opposite sides of the strategic fence – that is democracy. This now coopted watchword of his formulation remains apt, applicable to all who strive for authentic social transformation: Your mummu done do!”

Soyinka also said the attacks against him for criticising Datti Yusuf Baba-Ahmed for insisting that the Supreme Court must rule in the party’s favour justifies his earlier comment that fascism was taking over the political arena.

He said, “It would appear that a record discharge of toxic sludge from our notorious smut factory is currently clogging the streets and sewers of the Republic of Liars. It goes to prove the point that provoked the avalanche EXACTLY! The seeds of incipient fascism in the political arena have evidently matured.

“A climate of fear is being generated. The refusal to entertain corrective criticism, even differing perspectives of the same position has become a badge of honour and certificate of commitment. What is at stake, ultimately is – Truth, and at a most elementary level of social regulation: when you are party to a conflict, you do not attempt to intimidate the arbiter, attempt to dictate the outcome, or impugn, without credible cause, his or her neutrality even before hearing has commenced.”

https://saharareporters.com/2023/04/07/soyinka-challenges-labour-party-vp-candidate-datti-live-debate-tv-says-attacks-against/

Prof debate chimamamda

The way BABA go crush DATTI go be like when caterpillar crush bicycle.

Datti doesn't oblige CORNfused hypocrites.
The world now knows how worthless Soyinka is.
He is trying hard to salvage his punctured ego

Datti na bombardier jor.
One interview Everywhere scatter for 2weeks.

I dont believe the revered noble prize winner will say such. Baba soyinka knows that arguing constituonal matters as this on TV is of no result.
It is plain english that does not require argument. The court should be where any argument is made just as PODATTI has done.

Baba soyinka is a man that I respect and I believe should be respected but I sincerely think age has caught up with him.

He should try to rest more and make peace with his creator than engaging in some of these things. Because even most of questions thrown at him by Ruben abati and others during his interview at arisetv were not properly answered as he was going off topic and off point most time .

Which baba...? abi you think say na "Lion and the Jewel" or "Trial of Brother Jero" we dey talk?

Baba doesn't look intelligent abeg.
Soyinka fall hand big time

accordadoga29:
The way baba go crush Datti go be like when caterpillar crush bicycle.

Wole soyinka should go and drug daddy's legal team if he thinks he is so intelligent

Mk e go challenge apc wey put us were we dey so...over sabi dey worry am.why e no go 4 president.the Nobel laureate sef wey e win which way e don use am impact better thing 4 dis country,abi na to dey speak grammar?

Wole Soyinka himself

Wole Soyinka Herself

Soyinka should go and read the following books:

THE SWAMP DWELLERS by Soyinka
THE MAN DIED by Soyinka

These books would provide would refresh his memory as well as guide and counsel him so that he doesn't end up as a PROPHET WHO BECAME A VICTIM OF HIS OWN PROPHECY.

Soyinka is an irritating distraction

EmirGold:
Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, has challenged Datti Baba-Ahmed, Vice-Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) to a live debate on national television.
On March 22, in an interview with Channels TV, Datti said the country has no president-elect despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcing Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.
The LP vice-presidential candidate said Tinubu would be leading an unconstitutional government if sworn into office because the APC candidate “has not met requirements of the law”.
The interview elicited criticism from political stakeholders as well as a N5 million fine for the TV station.
Reacting in a chat with Arise TV on Wednesday, Soyinka said the remarks are a “kind of do-or-die attitude and provocation” that goes contrary to democratic disposition.
He added that the LP vice-presidential candidate tried to “dictate to the supreme arbiter of the nation”, adding that it was unacceptable.
However, Soyinka’s statement has earned him criticism and abuse from the ‘Obidients’, especially on social media platforms.
Reacting in a statement on Friday, the Nobel laureate condemned the fine slammed on Channels Television for airing the ‘incisive interview’ with Labour Party vice presidential candidate.
Soyinka said he was willing to engage Datti or any nominee of his on the platform “on this very bone of contention – one-on-one – without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator.”
He said, “May I cease this opportunity, by the way, to condemn the sanctions imposed on CHANNELS Television which anchored the performance of the LP candidate. As stated, I watched the programme keenly – saw the valiant efforts of the interviewer to ensure fair hearing. I fail to understand just where the station could be faulted, except from a disposition for injustice.
“To sustain that penalty is to give joy to others who turn Internet into a soakaway for their rancid emissions, yet feel that others should be silenced. If CHANNELS feels up to it, I offer myself willing to engage Mr. Datti – or any nominee of his - on its platform on this very bone of contention – one-on-one – without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator.
That should be taken as a serious offer.
“Project NIGERIA, I must confess, has become near terminally soul-searing. Do I still believe in it? I am no longer certain but - first we must rid ourselves of the tyranny of the ignorant and the opportunism of time-servers. In any case, there is not much else to engage one on a foundation of ownership stakes.
“There is of course, always the possibility of a Revolution, with a clarity of purpose and acceptance of all attendant risks, including costly errors.
Revolutions are not however based on the impetus of speculative power entitlement.
“No matter, until that moment, the structures that ensure just and equitable cohabitation must be protected from partisan appropriation - be it from material inducement, fake news, or verbal terrorism – the last being the contribution of one who is positioned to assume co-leadership of the nation, no less. Revolution is not about lining up behind the nearest available symbol. When a symbol does emerge however, we are still obliged to examine every aspect of what is fortuitously on offer, and continue to guard our freedoms every inch of the way.
“Before I take myself off for – well, next port of call – the final word goes to a favourite maverick, propagated even as he matched his words by action.
I suspect that in this instance we find ourselves on opposite sides of the strategic fence – that is democracy. This now coopted watchword of his formulation remains apt, applicable to all who strive for authentic social transformation: Your mummu done do!”
Soyinka also said the attacks against him for criticising Datti Yusuf Baba-Ahmed for insisting that the Supreme Court must rule in the party’s favour justifies his earlier comment that fascism was taking over the political arena.
He said, “It would appear that a record discharge of toxic sludge from our notorious smut factory is currently clogging the streets and sewers of the Republic of Liars. It goes to prove the point that provoked the avalanche EXACTLY! The seeds of incipient fascism in the political arena have evidently matured.
“A climate of fear is being generated. The refusal to entertain corrective criticism, even differing perspectives of the same position has become a badge of honour and certificate of commitment. What is at stake, ultimately is – Truth, and at a most elementary level of social regulation: when you are party to a conflict, you do not attempt to intimidate the arbiter, attempt to dictate the outcome, or impugn, without credible cause, his or her neutrality even before hearing has commenced.”




https://saharareporters.com/2023/04/07/soyinka-challenges-labour-party-vp-candidate-datti-live-debate-tv-says-attacks-against/

mynd44
nlfpmod

When did Woke Soyinka become the mouth piece of APC? Yoruba people and tribalism. Kai!

Mumu Shoyinka, let him go and compete with his other foreign counterparts

He should go and face otter professor like him

No you will rather debate with Chimamanda

See them canceling the honorable old man because he said Datti was wrong, he said channels shouldn't have been fined, also he didn't by any chance lean towards the APC... All he did said was: "Revolution shouldn't come from an angle of partisan fellowship, that will be the sole benefitiary of the resurrection"

Look at them saying all sorts of things to degrade the old man...

I dey always thank God for my Yoruba upbringing sha... Respect for elders should be something you instill in a child from little. A kid that doesn't have respect for elders will always be a nuisance to the society

This is the kind of fake and half baked professors being churned out in Nigeria

An idiot who was silent during and before election when criminals were threatening voters with evil and machetes has suddenly found his speech to defend a drug criminal and a big thief like Thiefiniubui

Going around speaking inaudible grammar thinking it still impresses young people in 2023

Nigeria is hopeless

@op Did you even understand that sentence to call it a challenge for debate

ObiORBiafra:
See them canceling the honorable old man because he said Datti was wrong, he said channels shouldn't have been fined, also he didn't by any chance lean towards the APC... All he did said was: "Revolution shouldn't come from an angle of partisan fellowship, that will be the sole benefitiary of the resurrection"

Look at them saying all sorts of things to degrade the old man...

I dey always thank God for my Yoruba upbringing sha... Respect for elders should be something you instill in a child from little. A kid that doesn't have respect for elders will always be a nuisance to the society

Was it not the same Wole Soyinka that said "Nigeria must forgive Buhari sins and accept him back" in 2014? What is the result today? Now it is the drug baron criminal shei? Time and posterity is waiting for all of us.

Imagine what the professor has reduced himself to.

Upon Everything that happened during this election period, his only problem is Datti's interview.

Though he said he has ear problem, maybe he didn't hear other things that happened

If Soyinka indeed said this, he has just insulted himself. I don't believe it though. Is Soyinka becoming APC mouth piece?

EmirGold:
Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, has challenged Datti Baba-Ahmed, Vice-Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) to a live debate on national television.
On March 22, in an interview with Channels TV, Datti said the country has no president-elect despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcing Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.
The LP vice-presidential candidate said Tinubu would be leading an unconstitutional government if sworn into office because the APC candidate “has not met requirements of the law”.
The interview elicited criticism from political stakeholders as well as a N5 million fine for the TV station.
Reacting in a chat with Arise TV on Wednesday, Soyinka said the remarks are a “kind of do-or-die attitude and provocation” that goes contrary to democratic disposition.
He added that the LP vice-presidential candidate tried to “dictate to the supreme arbiter of the nation”, adding that it was unacceptable.
However, Soyinka’s statement has earned him criticism and abuse from the ‘Obidients’, especially on social media platforms.
Reacting in a statement on Friday, the Nobel laureate condemned the fine slammed on Channels Television for airing the ‘incisive interview’ with Labour Party vice presidential candidate.
Soyinka said he was willing to engage Datti or any nominee of his on the platform “on this very bone of contention – one-on-one – without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator.”
He said, “May I cease this opportunity, by the way, to condemn the sanctions imposed on CHANNELS Television which anchored the performance of the LP candidate. As stated, I watched the programme keenly – saw the valiant efforts of the interviewer to ensure fair hearing. I fail to understand just where the station could be faulted, except from a disposition for injustice.
“To sustain that penalty is to give joy to others who turn Internet into a soakaway for their rancid emissions, yet feel that others should be silenced. If CHANNELS feels up to it, I offer myself willing to engage Mr. Datti – or any nominee of his - on its platform on this very bone of contention – one-on-one – without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator.
That should be taken as a serious offer.
“Project NIGERIA, I must confess, has become near terminally soul-searing. Do I still believe in it? I am no longer certain but - first we must rid ourselves of the tyranny of the ignorant and the opportunism of time-servers. In any case, there is not much else to engage one on a foundation of ownership stakes.
“There is of course, always the possibility of a Revolution, with a clarity of purpose and acceptance of all attendant risks, including costly errors.
Revolutions are not however based on the impetus of speculative power entitlement.
“No matter, until that moment, the structures that ensure just and equitable cohabitation must be protected from partisan appropriation - be it from material inducement, fake news, or verbal terrorism – the last being the contribution of one who is positioned to assume co-leadership of the nation, no less. Revolution is not about lining up behind the nearest available symbol. When a symbol does emerge however, we are still obliged to examine every aspect of what is fortuitously on offer, and continue to guard our freedoms every inch of the way.
“Before I take myself off for – well, next port of call – the final word goes to a favourite maverick, propagated even as he matched his words by action.
I suspect that in this instance we find ourselves on opposite sides of the strategic fence – that is democracy. This now coopted watchword of his formulation remains apt, applicable to all who strive for authentic social transformation: Your mummu done do!”
Soyinka also said the attacks against him for criticising Datti Yusuf Baba-Ahmed for insisting that the Supreme Court must rule in the party’s favour justifies his earlier comment that fascism was taking over the political arena.
He said, “It would appear that a record discharge of toxic sludge from our notorious smut factory is currently clogging the streets and sewers of the Republic of Liars. It goes to prove the point that provoked the avalanche EXACTLY! The seeds of incipient fascism in the political arena have evidently matured.
“A climate of fear is being generated. The refusal to entertain corrective criticism, even differing perspectives of the same position has become a badge of honour and certificate of commitment. What is at stake, ultimately is – Truth, and at a most elementary level of social regulation: when you are party to a conflict, you do not attempt to intimidate the arbiter, attempt to dictate the outcome, or impugn, without credible cause, his or her neutrality even before hearing has commenced.”




https://saharareporters.com/2023/04/07/soyinka-challenges-labour-party-vp-candidate-datti-live-debate-tv-says-attacks-against/

mynd44
nlfpmod

accordadoga29:
The way baba go crush Datti go be like when caterpillar crush bicycle.

Datti go dust baba in d bolekaja style!
Take it to d bank!

He go use baba white biabia take mop d studio floor.

Feintline:
I dont believe the revered noble prize winner will say such. Baba soyinka knows that arguing constituonal matters as this on TV is of no result.
It is plain english that does not require argument. The court should be where any argument is made just as PODATTI has done.

Baba soyinka is a man that I respect and I believe should be respected but I sincerely think age has caught up with him and he should try to rest more and make peace with his creator than engaging in some of these things. Because even most of questions thrown at him by Ruben abati and others during his interview at arisetv were not properly answered as he was going off topic and off point most time .

It's surprising when we were all shouting for debate before the presidential election he kept mute. Let him debate in court.

A whole wole Soyinka can’t be debating someone whose brain is equivalent to that of a duck.

Na wole Soyinka go kill obidients las las.

I am sure they pick dictionary to understand new vocabularies before responding to him

All these because of Yakubu, one man's greed

Soyinka should go and sit in a bin

Q

Is Wole Soyinka now an APC spokesperson or does he have corn in his pocket?