Former presidential candidate, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has apologised for using some controversial adjectives to describe critics of Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka.
Moghalu tendered the apology in a series of tweets on Friday after public outcry.
In a tweet on Thursday, the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had described critics of Soyinka as “unlettered and uncultured”.
Moghalu had put out the tweet defending Soyinka after the playwright was heavily criticised on Twitter for using the expression “fascism” while describing the Obidient movement.
“Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka is a principled fighter for justice in our country and around the world. He is a phenomenon that unlettered and uncultured people may not fully understand in an age of lazy social media in which many don’t read or think deep,” Moghalu’s tweet read in part.
In an apology on Friday, Moghalu said that he realised that his choice of words could be misconstrued as harsh judgement on citizens who are hurting from the outcome of the elections, noting that this was not his intention.
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“In my tweet yesterday on Prof. Wole Soyinka’s comment on Datti Baba Ahmed’s own comments about the 2023 presidential election,I said WS is a principled fighter for justice and a phenomenon “that unlettered and uncultured people may not fully understand in an age of lazy social media in which many don’t read or think deeply”. I want to apologize FOR THE PHRASE IN QUOTATION MARKS which, on a second thought, can be misconstrued as a harsh judgment on citizens who are hurting from the outcome of the elections. That was not my intention.
“While we all bear responsibility for the words we choose to use (and I have the utmost respect for Prof Soyinka and Dr. Datti-Ahmed), I caution again, however, that there will always be different voices with different beliefs in a democracy.
“These voices are NOT illegitimate simply because we disagree with them or they do not agree either with our political preferences or with whatever manner in which we choose to express our views.
“This applies across the board to the supporters of ALL the leading candidates.
“This is a difficult time for our country, but I hope we can still be civil and measured even as we may disagree,” Moghalu said.