Last week, the key topic of discussion among Nigerians was fascism. Africa’s first Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, used the word “fascism” to describe the Nigerian online community which is demanding improved governance. Many argued that Soyinka was not referring to that community but to the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed, for his comment that if Senator Bola Tinubu is sworn in based on the flawed February election, it would be akin to truncating democracy.
Given the type of mischievous representation of people that has been going on in recent times, I was cautious not to believe that Soyinka would use the word “fascism” in any circumstance for any group of Nigerians complaining about governance, election, democracy or the like in Nigeria, no matter how much he disagreed with the group. There have been many occasions in which comments were concocted by faceless individuals and credited to prominent Nigerians. Soyinka has been the victim of such fabrications many times.
Sometimes, it is not even a fabricated comment but a real comment that was mischievously manipulated or interpreted to achieve to sell a false narrative. A recent example was the speech made by the founder of Champion newspapers, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, in which he was alleged to have called the Yoruba ‘political rascals.’ A contextual review of his full speech showed that he was only referring to those who attacked the Igbo in Lagos during the governorship election.
Because of such mischief, I decided to watch the Soyinka interview in full. It was an interview of one hour, 22 minutes and twenty one seconds. I wanted to see the interview in full and know the exact context in which he used the word “fascism,” to know if it was another attempt to manipulate the words of a prominent figure for the sake of political goals. It was taxing watching such a long interview, replaying it repeatedly to hear his words better. From the 21st minute to the 23 minute, Soyinka, who had been talking about the steps he and others took to create “the third force,” said as follows:
“In other words, this election actually is a consequence – I mean, what happened at this election: the emergence, for instance, of quote and unquote “the third force” – it didn’t happen overnight; it’s a build-up on those blocks I have already cited. Then the moment came when it seemed we have reached a mass, a mass moment, unfortunately – unfortunately – a bit of fascism, from my observation … and this was one of the reasons why I was happy I was away at a time … a lot of fascism was creeping in. People saw what we expected to happen to be a divine command, to be inevitable, to be right there and then and began to act fascistically to other people. If you disagree with them on strategy, on even little issues of tactics …. because they kept communicating with me that we don’t like what we’re seeing, what’s developing here. So once again the building blocks were not just by the old brigade but even by the youth. Oh, I forgot to mention SARS. #EndSARS was another build-up or significant momentum in the mobilisation of alternative force within the nation. So there was alarm by the old brigade. And as I said, there was a creeping fascism within the ranks by the new brigade.”
That made it clear that Soyinka did not use the “fascism” label only on Baba-Ahmed but on the online community of young Nigerians involved in the political process of Nigeria. That extreme labelling was shocking. But Soyinka went a step further to bury all doubts by issuing a caustic letter with the heading: “Fascism on course.”
What is fascism and why should any well-meaning person condemn the use of such a tag against any civil group in Nigeria? According to dictionary.com, fascism is “a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasising an aggressive nationalism and often racism.” The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines fascism as “a right-wing political system in which people’s lives are completely controlled by the state and no political opposition is allowed.”
The key issues in fascism are dictatorship and a centralised authority that controls people’s lives and allows no form of opposition and criticism. Therefore, how can an unregistered group that has no leader or political power, has no defined membership, has been the direct and indirect victim of government attacks become the oppressors tagged fascists? Senator Shehu Sani reacted to that labelling thus: “In 2011, any northerner opposed to the ambition of Buhari was considered an infidel. After the elections, mobs resorted to violence & invaded the homes of members of the PDP and killed their family members & burned down their houses. If those were not fascists, Peter’s guys are not.”
The danger in Soyinka’s labelling is that he has prepared the ground for a brutal leader to unleash viciousness on online critics in the name of fighting to enthrone “sanity” and “patriotism” among the citizens. This will effectively silence the people by taking away their right to free speech.
In the build-up to the 2015 election, Soyinka made it clear that he was against the presidency of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and had sympathies for the presidential ambition of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) of the All Progressives Congress. He criticised Jonathan fiercely and said that Jonathan was “worse than Nebuchadnezzar.” It was his right. But he crossed the line of decency by body-shaming the wife of Jonathan, Dame Patience Jonathan, by calling her “Sheppopotamus.” It was one thing to criticise Mrs. Jonathan for her words or actions as the First Lady, but making a mockery of her shape was unbecoming of a Nobel laureate and one three decades older than she was. Yet, many of us who respect Soyinka because of his sacrifices for Nigeria and his literary prowess overlooked it.
Long before the 2015 election, Soyinka had done far worse things than the people he has tagged fascists have ever done. In 1965, Soyinka was angry with the result of the Western Region election. But unlike the people he has tagged fascists, he was not satisfied with merely engaging in media criticism of that election. He took a pistol into the radio station in Ibadan, forced the announcer to replace the tape of the premier of Western Region for the one he had recorded condemning the election. If Soyinka has not condemned his own violent action as fascist, how could he describe online words as fascist and spend so much time attacking such rather than focusing on the more dangerous issues of electoral fraud, thuggery, ethnic attacks, as well as illogical judgments made by the law courts for some candidates over the election?
Furthermore, how could Soyinka descend so low as to ask for a debate between him and Baba-Ahmed of the Labour Party? Is Soyinka a candidate in the election or the spokesperson for any of the candidates? He can support any of the candidates and criticise Baba-Ahmed for his words. That is his right, but challenging Baba-Ahmed to a debate was odd. What would they be debating? Will it be the meaning of fascism or whether the last election was free and fair or whether the Nigerian legal system gives confidence?
Soyinka should understand that any time he makes a political statement, he must receive reactions. And if his words are construed to show a preference for any political candidate, that will even worsen the type of reactions he will receive. That is part of the democratic process. Not every person engages in vitriolic verbal exchange or likes it, but it is anti-democratic to attempt to silence people who only employ words. I periodically visit the social media handles of President Joe Biden of the United States and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and see the shocking level of bile spewed on such pages. Whatever we see in the Nigerian social media space is like nursery rhymes compared to such. Yet these are leading democratic countries that don’t demonise opponents with the tag of fascism. One wonders why Soyinka should want us to start tagging Nigerians fascists for mere use of words.
Credit: Azuka Onwuka