Anenih to Soyinka: Debate someone of your intellectual weight; recommends Prof Udenta Udenta to square up to Nobel Laureate

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has been advised to go head-to-head with an intellectual of his class and weight instead of proposing to debate the Labour Party Vice Presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed.

The suggestion was given by a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Ose Anenih, a son of the late Chief Tony Anenih, a former minister and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, among others.

Ose Anenih also recommended Professor Udenta Udenta as a suitable debating match for Soyinka.

Udenta had, in an interview on Arise News, faulted Soyinka for criticising Baba-Ahmed for his comment about the outcome of the February 25 election.

Ose Anenih said: “Now if Prof. Wole Soyinka is serious, and feels brave enough to fight someone in his own intellectual weight class, this is a debate I’d watch. Who wants to organize it?”

Recall that Soyinka faulted Baba-Ahmed for his comment that inaugurating Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s president on May 29, would signal the death of democracy in the country.

He then offered to debate Baba-Ahmed.

“If CHANNELS feels up to it, I offer myself willing to engage Mr. Datti – or any nominee of his – on its platform on this very bone of contention – one-on-one – without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator.

“That should be taken as a serious offer,” the Nobel Laureate stressed.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has slammed a fine of N5 million on Channels Television over the Baba-Ahmed interview.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, accused the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Baba-Ahmed, of treason over the comment. (TheNiche)