Prof Anthony Kila, founder, Centre for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS), Lagos, has expressed disagreement with Prof Soyinka over his remark that Obidients are “most repulsive, off-putting concoctions” in the political arena.
Prof Kila, in a statement made available to Sundiata Post on Saturday, said Soyinka was wrong to have described Obidients in such a way, adding that there have been worse groups in Nigeria.
He said that though Obidients are partisan, intemperate and unruly, he did not agree with Soyinka’s assertion.
Writing on his Twitter handle, he said Soyinka used propaganda tricks of Strawman and Red Herring to divert attention from the main issues by attacking Obidients.
His statement reads:
“COUNTERPOINT: Whenever there is a direct comparison between 2 parties and one is clearly superior to the other, 2 propaganda tricks you must never fall for are the Strawman and the Red Herring.
“Wole Soyinka’s latest comments are a masterclass in how to use these tricks to kneecap a movement.
“Instead of facing the actual issue, i.e. the APC is a violent, racist, authoritarian entity that uses money and violence to distort democracy, and the Obidient movement is a direct pushback to that, a strawman is invoked – ‘The new kids on the block don’t tolerate disagreement.’
“First of all, this Strawman is completely false – it was in fact the APC that deployed physical violence against those who wouldn’t vote for it.
“Despite winning millions of votes, there is NOT ONE recorded incident of electoral violence attributed to the Labour Party.
“Second, this Strawman cleverly misdirects the entire election conversation into a meaningless cul-de-sac where the violent incumbent party escapes scrutiny and misplaced attention is focused on a peaceful, organic opposition, thus ultimately wasting everyone’s time and attention.
“Third, rather than a direct comparison between the APC and the opposition, Soyinka’s Strawman instead invokes a false standard against the latter. “A standard that was pulled entirely out of thin air and that he certainly has never lived by.
“Hypocrisy? Disingenuousness? Both?
“Fourth and perhaps most malicious of all, his completely unnecessary and unjustified use of the historically loaded term ‘Fascism’ is a dangerous Red Herring.
“Using a word which for much of the world, is analogous to invoking Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, is deliberate.
“Soyinka is a Professor of English and a literary Nobel Prize winner. He of all people knows the historical and political context that the word “Fascism” exists in.
“He knows that whatever he says becomes an international headline. He is not some naive villager in Ogun State.
“He knows this word contains so much power that if someone or a group of people are described as “Fascist” repeatedly, it has the same effect as when someone is repeatedly described as “racist” or “misogynist” – it becomes an everlasting smear, with absolutely no burden of proof.
“With the deployment of this strategic Red Herring, the expectation is for the online and international conversation to shift away from the electoral violence, hardcore ethnoracialism and documented drug crimes of the incumbent party, and toward “Are Obidients fascists?”
“Thus, even if the attempted smear itself doesn’t stick, it would nonetheless have wasted several days or weeks worth of valuable time and attention.
“How to defeat these 2 favoured APC propaganda tools – the Stawman and the Red Herring – is to PUSH BACK WITH YOUR OWN NARRATIVE.”