Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka has accused the leadership of the Labour Party (LP) of knowingly promoting falsehoods about the outcome of the 2023 general election, in which Peter Obi was the presidential candidate of the party.
Speaking at an event titled “The Lives of Wole Soyinka — A Dialogue” in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Soyinka criticized the LP for attempting to deceive Nigerians, particularly the youth, by claiming that Obi won the election.
The Nobel laureate emphasized the importance of truth and revealed his personal commitment to it, citing his actions in 1965 when he invaded a radio station in Ibadan during the regional election as an example where he relied on factual information.
Soyinka added that he was not relying on “third-hand information” about the result of the 1965 regional election.
He also accused the LP of infiltrating the organized labor movement in the lead-up to the 2023 election and noted that while Obi had made a significant impact by challenging the dominance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he did not actually win the election.
Soyinka alleged that the LP leadership aimed to mobilize young people to protest the election results based on false information and criticized their attempts to intimidate the judiciary.
He claimed that there were clandestine forces, including former generals, advocating for an interim government even before the elections began.
“This recent election – two things happened first of all. One party took over the labour movement, which is not my favourite movement, and then it became a regional party,” he said.
“Whereas it was a marvellous breach into the established two camps. Peter Obi achieved something remarkable there, that he broke that mould. However, he did not win the election.
“I can say categorically that Peter Obi’s party came third not even second and the leadership knew it but they want to do what we call in Yoruba ‘gbajue’, that is force of lies.”
Soyinka also alleged that the LP leadership attempted to mobilise young people to protest against the outcome of the election on the “banner of lies and deceit”.
“They were going to send some of the hardliners, proud young people into the street to demonstrate,” he said.
“I’m also ready to be among such demonstrators but only on the banner of truth not on lies, and deceit.
“This party wanted the same thing (referring to 2011 post-election violence) to happen on the basis of a lie and we find this vice-presidential candidate on television boasting, insisting, threatening and trying to intimidate both the judiciary and the rest.
“What kind of government will result from that kind of conduct? In addition, they did not know this but they were being used.
“Before the election, there were certain clandestine forces, including some ex-generals, who were already calling for an interim government before the elections began.
“Some of them were known figures, including a proprietor of a university calling for an interim government before the election took place.”
