Kingsley Moghalu has issued a lengthy apology statement on Twitter after he generated backlash for a controversial statement he made on Nigerian youths, especially the supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.
In a tweet, the candidate of the Young Progressives Party, YPP in the 2019 presidential election, Kingsley Moghalu while backing Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka against his attackers over his comment on the pronouncement of the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Datti Baba-Ahmed on the Supreme Court regarding the 2023 general elections, described the “Obi-dients” as “that unlettered and uncultured people may not fully understand in an age of lazy social media in which many don’t read or think deeply”.
While apologizing for his tweet and use of words, Kingsley Moghalu said:
“In my tweet yesterday on Prof. Wole Soyinka’s comment on Datti Baba Ahmed’s own comments about the 2023 presidential election,I said WS is a principled fighter for justice and a phenomenon “that unlettered and uncultured people may not fully understand in an age of lazy social
media in which many don’t read or think deeply”. I want to apologize FOR THE PHRASE IN QUOTATION MARKS which, on a second thought, can be misconstrued as a harsh judgment on citizens who are hurting from the outcome of the elections. That was not my intention. While we all bear
responsibility for the words we choose to use (and I have the utmost respect for Prof Soyinka and Dr. Datti-Ahmed), I caution again, however, that there will always be different voices with different beliefs in a democracy“, he said.
Kingsley Moghalu who understood how his tweet could be perceived as “insensitive,” added that:
“These voices are NOT illegitimate simply because we disagree with them or they do not agree either with our political preferences or with whatever manner in which we choose to express our views. This applies across the board to the supporters of ALL the leading candidates.
This is a difficult time for our country, but I hope we can still be civil and measured even as we may disagree” he added.
Recall that the Presidential and Vice-presidential candidates of the Labour Party, Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed are currently before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal with disputes about the election won by the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who has been declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC
Baba-Ahmed had spoken about the Supreme Court in a manner described by Soyinka as “fascistic language.”
Soyinka, in an interview with Channels Television, had stated, “I denounced the menacing utterances of a vice-presidential aspirant as unbecoming. It was a gladiatorial challenge directed at the judiciary and, by implication, the rest of the democratic polity.”
He also revealed that he had warned Obi that if he lost the presidential election, it would be as a result of his followers’ attitude.
However, the Nobel laureate has come under fire on social media after expressing displeasure at a statement made by Baba-Ahmed.
Soyinka’s comment met with criticisms from Obi’s supporters, popularly known as Obidients, who took to Twitter to express their dissatisfaction at the comments of the Nobel laureate.
But in a series of tweets defending Soyinka, the candidate of the Young Progressives Party in the 2019 presidential election, Kingsley Moghalu, said the Nobel laureate would survive his critics.
He tweeted, “Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka is a principled fighter for justice in our country and around the world. He is a phenomenon that unlettered and uncultured people may not fully understand in an age of lazy social media in which many don’t read or think deep. He survived dictators. He will survive you.”
Similarly, Moghalu was dragged on Twitter with his post attracting over 4,000 comments.