A political analyst Jide Ojo has stated that the letter written by world-renowned Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie to the President of the United States, Joe Biden on the conduct of the 2023 presidential election influenced the Igbos’ chances in securing the senate presidency.
In the letter titled “Nigeria’s Hollow Democracy,” Adichie condemned the United States for congratulating the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
She lamented that Nigerians’ trust were violated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after they were lured to the polls by promises of the electoral body to deliver a flawless election.
Reacting to the writer’s claims, Dele Alake, the special adviser on communications to the president-elect, Bola Tinubu argued that Adichie’s letter was flawed with bias.
He insisted that Adichie relied on “rumours, hearsay, presumptuous conjectures and outright falsehood”, adding that she did not provide any evidence to back her claims.
He had said, “Chimamanda had pinned her hopes on a possible Obi victory partly on predictions of flawed opinion polls some of which were predicated on statistically negligible and thus unreliable sample sizes and others on no discernible empirical basis whatsoever. Opinion polls do not win elections.”
Recently, the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress announced their decision to zone the presidency to the South-South, choosing former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio as their preferred candidate.
This move was greeted with heavy backlash from South-Eastern senators who complained about their region being ignored.
However Jide Ojo, during an exclusive interview with Naija News listed some of the deeds done by Igbos in the past which might be affecting their chances in securing a prominent position in the President-elect, administration.
He pointed out that one of such deeds is the letter written by Adichie which heavily questioned the victory of Tinubu at the polls.
Ojo argued that such moves from prominent Igbo personalities might have sent a wrong message to the President-elect that the Igbos do not plan on working with him to move the country forward.
