Obi visits Soyinka one month after clash with supporters

The presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Sunday, paid a courtesy visit to the Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka.

The visit is coming one month after the playwright clashed with the Obidients movement, a nickname adopted by Obi’s supporters.

Soyinka, who faulted voter suppression witnessed in some polling units in Lagos, had also accused Obidients of fascism who don’t ‘entertain corrective criticism’.

The wordsmith made the statement when he featured as a guest on Channels Television and later on Arise TV on April 8.

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Hours after his scathing remark, Soyinka was serially trolled and abused online by angry youths who identified with the former governor of Anambra State.

Two weeks ago, Obi disclosed on Politics Today, a popular programme on Channels Television, that he was sad about the exchange, maintaining that he revered Soyinka as a father.

He also defended his Obidient movement when he reiterated that they were angry youths who had been deprived by a system that is meant to care for them.

But in a tweet posted via his Twitter handle on Sunday evening, Obi described his visit to the playwright as enriching, saying he had a useful discussion with him.

The tweet read, “Today I visited one of Nigeria’s most revered figures and an international literary icon Prof Wole Soyinka. Prof Soyinka has been my father whom I hold in very esteem for what he has achieved and stands for in the struggle for a better Nigeria. His reputation as a fighter for justice and equity in our society has been legendary and we will NEVER ignore them.

“I had a very useful and enriching discussion about his aspirations for a better and greater Nigeria, and he shared a lot with me about his dream for a greater, and more inclusive Nigeria. I reminded the Nobel laureate of the huge price he paid just before the outbreak of the Civil ar, fighting for the cause of the Igbo.

“I cherish this Sunday visit which was intended to erase the needless misconceptions about the relationship between the great icon and the Obidient family.”