Nigeria’s celebrated author, Chimamanda Adichie received criticism from the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council Barrister Festus Keyamo over her attempt to cast doubt on the 25th February presidential election.
The Director of Media and Publicity for the campaign council, Bayo Onanuga; and a member of the APC, Dr Josef Onoh also reprimanded famous writer for her action.
In an open letter to United States President Joe Biden on Thursday, Adichie asked him not to accept the result of the election, citing alleged discrepancies and irregularities during the polls.
But Keyamo, writing on Twitter on Friday, called Adichie’s letter a “reflection of pathetic colonial mentality”.
The Minister of State for Labour and Productivity said Adichie’s “long epistles written in flowery or purple prose” were of no consequence in a world where “Presidents of countries make decisions and take actions about other countries’ affairs (albeit within the limits of sovereignty of States in International Law) based on reports from official and diplomatic sources likely to have been conveyed through well-established channels of communications.
“Long epistles written in flowery or purple prose by bitter supporters of sore losers, posing as ‘concerned citizens’ (but in reality actuated by ethnic politics) do not fall within these official or diplomatic sources”.
He added: “It is befuddling that someone often celebrated for using a God-given talent to promote our African values will so tragically degrade that same ethos by penning a letter that is so petty, so groveling in its tone in urging a single foreign power to withhold a mere congratulatory message to our President-elect as if that is what actually validates our own democratic identity. It reflects a pathetic colonial mentality.
“It is even more ironic to realise that the same foreign power to which the obsequious appeal is directed is still grappling with the credibility of its own internal democratic process that produced its present leadership.
“More tragic is that some rabid supporters here are falling over themselves in deluded ecstasy for such a worthless letter that may not even be considered worthy enough, in a diplomatic sense, for the attention of even a stenographer to an Under Secretary in the US. Such only paints the picture of a band of drowning supporters clutching at any straw to stay afloat.
“As for the empirical fallacies contained in the letter, I will not bother myself here with a lengthy response as enough has been said in the last few weeks in respect of those specific issues and all the issues are before our Justices awaiting adjudication. But I have bad news for them: the stenographer will probably toss the letter into a trash bin with the conclusion that it is no more than the tantrums of a Trump reincarnate in Nigeria – those who refuse to accept obvious defeat! Yes, the US has the likes of that writer in their midst, too”!
In his own tweet, Onanuga asked President Biden to thrash the letter as soon as it reaches his desk for it is all fiction.
“Dear President Joe Biden, please just trash the open letter by Chimamanda on Nigeria’s election once it gets to your desk. She wrote fiction, inspired by the monumental loss of her tribesman Peter Obi”, he said
Also faulting Adichie, Onoh said the letter was in bad faith because of the colossal failure of Obi, her preferred presidential candidate in the election.
Adichie’s dilemma, Onoh said, stemmed from her ignorance of the rules of international diplomacy, and self-serving interest while attempting to use any medium, no matter how irrelevant to promote her brand.
He said he did not expect Adichie in her international clout-chasing acceptance ego trip to have taken time to understand the complexity surrounding international diplomacy.
“It’s a fact that the US Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability outlines a ten-year, whole-of-government effort to foster peace and long-term stability through integrated diplomacy, development, and security-sector engagement.
“The strategy builds upon and strengthens the work done to implement the U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security, which has given migrants like Chimamanda Adichie the platform to excel and today demonstrate the liberty to write the US President over the loss of her preferred Presidential candidate in the just concluded 2023 Nigeria elections while attempting to hide under the guise of an activist fighting for a self-perceived collective right rather than accept the reality before her that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the president-elect and incoming president of Nigeria’.
