The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, who doubles as the Chief Spokesperson for the Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council Festus Keyamo SAN, has on Friday knocked the Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Adichie, over her letter to the US President Joe Biden.
The novelist had on Thursday, through a letter addressed to Biden, expressed displeasure over the process of the Nigerian presidential election, conducted on February 25, 2023.
According to her, the election was full of discrepancies and irregularities which were all shunned by the Independent National Electoral Commission
In his reaction through an article, the former human rights lawyer, described Adichie’s letter as “petty,” and full of the political tone of a political supporter, whose principal has failed woefully in an election.
He wrote, “In global diplomacy and international relations, Presidents of countries make decisions and take actions about other countries’ affairs (albeit within the limits of the sovereignty of States in International Law) based on reports from official and diplomatic sources likely to have been conveyed through well-established channels of communications.
“Long epistles written in flowery or purple prose by bitter supporters of sore losers, posing as ‘concerned citizens’ (but in reality actuated by ethnic politics) do not fall within these official or diplomatic sources.
“It is befuddling that someone often celebrated for using a God-given talent to promote our African values, will so tragically degrade that same ethos by penning a letter that is so petty, so groveling its tone in urging a single foreign power to withhold a mere congratulatory message to our President-elect as if that is what activates our own democratic identity.
“It reflects a pathetic colonial mentality. It is even more ironic to realize that the same foreign power to which the obsequious appeal is directed is still grappling with the credibility of its internal democratic process that produced its present leadership.
“More tragic is that some rabid supporters here are falling over themselves in deluded ecstasy for such a worthless letter that may not even be considered worthy enough, in a diplomatic sense, for the attention of even a stenographer to an Under Secretary in the US.
“Such only paints the picture of a band of drowning supporters clutching at any straw to stay afloat.
“As for the empirical fallacies contained in the letter, I will not bother myself here with a lengthy response as enough has been said in the last few weeks in respect of those specific issues and all the issues are before our Justices awaiting adjudication. But I have bad news for them: the stenographer will probably toss the letter into a trash bin with the conclusion that it is no more than the tantrums of a Trump reincarnate in Nigeria – those who refuse to accept obvious defeat! Yes, the US has the likes of that writer in their midst too!”
