Official Spokesperson, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo SAN has expressed confidence that US President Joe Biden will not be swayed by an open letter penned by famed writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about the 2023 presidential election.
He said this in a Friday statement titled, ‘Nigeria’s burgeoning (not hollow) democracy’.
In her open letter, Adichie said it would “tarnish America’s self-proclaimed commitment to democracy and give the sheen of legitimacy to an illegitimate process” should Biden congratulate President-elect Bola Tinubu.
Keyamo said, “In global diplomacy and international relations, Presidents of countries make decisions and take actions about other countries’ affairs (albeit within the limits of 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.
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“Long purple prose by bitter supporters of sore losers, posing as ‘concerned citizens’ epistles written in flowery or (but in reality actuated by ethnic politics) do not fall within these official or diplomatic sources.”
The senior lawyer added that Adichie’s letter reflects a pathetic colonial mentality.
“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 grovelling in its tone in urging a single foreign power to withhold a mere congratulatory message to our President-elect as if that is what actually validates our own democratic identity.
“It reflects a pathetic colonial mentality. It is even more ironic to realise that the same foreign power to which the obsequious appeal is directed is still grappling with the credibility of its own 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.”
Keyamo said he would not bother himself with a lengthy response to the “empirical fallacies contained in the letter”, stating that “enough have 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!” the APC chieftain said.