In the wake of INEC’s declaration of Bola Tinubu as president-elect, there has been a clash of voices, many questioning its legitimacy, others offering congratulations. The APC camp was ill-pleased to note the lack of congratulatory messages from many heads of state, particularly from the American President, Joe Biden. In contrast, in 2015 Obama and other world leaders reached out to Buhari welcoming him as a peer. The APC feel slighted by this lack, saying it calls into question their legitimacy.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, A Nigerian-born writer with international renown, penned a letter to President Biden giving her opinion on the just concluded general elections. She wrote about the man soon to be sworn-in as President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu. In her letter, she asked the President to keep withholding his congratulations as the declaration of Bola Tinubu was fraudulent.
Chimamanda disparaged the INEC Chairman for failing to carry out the election according to the guidelines which he himself laid out. She said he had broken the burgeoning trust Nigerians had put in him and the electoral process, and reminded the American President that violence and voter coercion marred the entire electoral process.
Bayo Onanuga, Journalist and spokesperson for Bola Tinubu’s Campaign Council responded to Chimamanda’s letter to the President in a tweet. He asked the American president to throw Chimamanda’s letter in the trash. Onanuga said her words were fictional and obviously motivated by her selfish interest in Peter Obi.
He said “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.”
Many in the APC camp have said that her letter won’t make a difference in the long run.
