Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, said the inability of the supporters of the Labour Party to accept criticism has now become their badge of honour.
Soyinka made this declaration in his controversial statement which he issued on Friday, titled “Fascism on Course”, according to Vanguard.
Premium Politics had earlier reported how the Poet had in the same official statement challenged the Vice Presidential candidate of the LP in the February 25 general elections, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, to a live TV debate, concerning the latter’s objections regarding the just concluded elections.
Also in the statement, the literary icon said ‘Obidients’ have worn their refusal to accept constructive criticism as a badge of honour, noting that the LP was sowing seeds of fascism and generating a climate of fear.
He, therefore, asked them to refrain from attacking and embrace fair hearing in situations of conflict.
The statement read in part, “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. That is a ground rule of just proceeding. Short of this, Truth remains permanently elusive.
“The ensuing cacophony has been truly bewildering. It strikes me as a possible ploy to smother recent provocations by other, far more trenchant issues, such as revelations of declarations of a religious war.
“If so, let it be known that I have long declared war against religious fundamentalism, the nature of which justifies the butchery, kidnapping and enslavement of students in the name of religion.”
