Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has declined the call to a public debate with Literary Icon, Prof Wole Soyinka.
Recall that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) slammed a whopping 5 million on Channels TV last month following Datti’s comment in one of its political programmes where he said that it would be undemocratic to swear in Ahmed Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s president come 29 May 2023.
Lending his voice on the matter, Soyinka described Datti’s comment as that of a fascist.
Soyinka’s comment generated a lot of reactions for and against on the internet.
Following a barrage of comments, on Friday, Soyinka, via a statement titled “Fascism on course”, challenged the LP’s VP candidate to a debate.
But, Baba-Ahmed, in a statement on Saturday by the Obi-Datti Media Office, said he could not take up Soyinka’s offer of a public debate due to political and cultural reasons.
“Therefore, we state that the Labour Party’s vice-presidential candidate, Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, cannot take up Prof. Soyinka’s offer of a public debate, not out of cowardice, but for cultural and political reasons. Culturally it’s just not decent, their age and accomplishment gaps taken into account, for Datti to sit opposite the 88-year-old global icon and point out his folly to his face, even if the older man called for it. And politically, there is no basis for such a challenge because Prof. is not on the opposite ballots”, the statement partly reads.