A spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, has described Chimamanda Adichie’s letter as fiction which he said was inspired by “the monumental loss of her tribesman Peter Obi”.
Onanuga, who has been critical of dissent voices against the election, urged President Joe Biden of the United States of America to trash the letter once it gets to his desk.
The former managing director of the News Agency of Nigeria said this on Friday in a post on Twitter, “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.”
Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Adichie on Thursday wrote an open letter to President Biden not to accept the presidential election results that produced Bola Tinubu, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, as the ‘winner’.
The award-winning novelist in the open letter published in TheAtlantic described the election as badly flawed.
She said Tinubu’s victory was illegitimate as the process of the February 25 presidential election was not marred by technical faults as claimed by the INEC but a deliberate manipulation by the electoral umpire, adding that the election was full of discrepancies and irregularities which were all shunned by the INEC.
“American intelligence surely cannot be so inept. A little homework and they would know what is manifestly obvious to me and so many others: The process was imperiled not by technical shortcomings but by deliberate manipulation,” she said.
Asking President Biden to uphold his stance on the need for a true democracy, adding that congratulating Tinubu will be endorsing the illegitimate process that produced him as president, Adichie said, “I hope, President Biden, that you do not personally share this cordial condescension. You have spoken of the importance of a “global community for democracy,” and the need to stand up for “justice and the rule of law.” A global community for democracy cannot thrive in the face of apathy from its most powerful member.
“Why would the United States, which prioritizes the rule of law, endorse a president-elect who has emerged from an unlawful process?
“This Nigerian election was supposed to be different, and the U.S. response cannot—must not—be business as usual.”
Meanwhile, Valentine Ozigbo, the Special Adviser to Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi and the immediate past President and Chief Executive Officer of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria plc, praised Adichie for writing the letter, insisting that lawlessness has consequences.
He wrote: “Lawlessness has consequences.” – Nigeria’s literary superstar, @ChimamandaReal speaks truth to @POTUS President Biden in open letter published in @TheAtlantic. Thanks, Chimamanda for your integrity and bravery.”
