VANGUARD
A law professor, Yemi Oke, has kicked against a letter written by Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie to President Joe Biden over the conduct of the February 25 presidential election.
Recall that Adichie, in a letter published last Thursday, had said the Nigerian election was “deliberately manipulated and fraught with discrepancies, irregularities, and violence.
But, in a counter-letter addressed to Biden and Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, Oke said Adichie’s correspondence was “against Nigeria’s democracy”.
According to the law professor, Adichi’s letter contains “seditious elements, and it is a case of extraterritorial ethnocentric politicking of a non-resident Nigerian-American.”
Oke said Adichie’s claims and assertions about the presidential election were “ludicrous, illogical, and depicts ignoble ranting of an uninformed mind about legal and judicial processes or procedures”.
The professor, however, said his counter-letter was not to “vilify, ridicule or incite” against the celebrated writer.
He stated, “It is most bewildering that a privileged Nigerian-born writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1977 but now lives in the United State of America, has decided to paint her country of origin “black”.
“Sadly, Chimamandi’s letter is a reckless affront on our resolve not to be part of the “brain-drain” syndrome against our dear country Nigeria like the writer. Some of us are determined to be “brain-gain” to Nigeria,” he said.
Oke further stated, “It is in view of this that we felt taken aback that Chimamanda went below expectations to pen down a seditious letter against the Government and people of Nigeria.
“Chimamandi’s letter titled “Nigeria’s Hollow Democracy” was not about the election or person of the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose victory was freely and fairly unveiled despite dis-oriented opposition politicking and those of their supporters in Nigeria and their allies in the diaspora.
“Chimamandi’s letter was against entire “Nigeria’s Democracy” that was fought and procured with patriotic bloods, labour, efforts, lives and undeterred resolve of democrats, chief among them being Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who, by divine arrangement, is now the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Chimamanda’s claims and assertions on the recently concluded presidential elections in Nigeria is not only ludicrous, it is also illogical, baseless and depicts ignoble ranting of an uninformed mind about legal and judicial processes or procedures,” the law professor wrote.
