Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Kingsley Muoghalu , has tendered a public apology to supporters of Peter Obi , the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, popularly known as ‘Obidients’ for calling them “unlettered and uncultured people of lazy social media age”.
Moghalu on Thursday described ‘Obidients’ as unlettered and uncultured people of the age of lazy social media who don’t read or think deeply.
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Moghalu said this while reacting to the online attacks on the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka for saying that an attempt made by the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Datti Baba-Ahmed to dictate to the Supreme Court regarding the party’s suit challenging the presidential election is fascist and unacceptable.
The former CBN deputy governor said Soyinka would survive their flood of criticisms as he survived dictators in the past.
But on Friday, Moghalu apologised for saying “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 addressing ‘Obidients’.
He said on second thought, he realised that it can be misconstrued as a harsh judgment on citizens who are hurting from the outcome of the 2023 general elections, adding that it was not his intention.
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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.
“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.”