Wole Soyinka, arguably Africa’s best known writer, has once again stirred the hornet’s nest by his proclamation that Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party is not fit to be President of the country. He was quoted as saying that Obi’s failure to rein in his supporters from attacking others with opposing views online was a pointer that he is unfit to lead a country like Nigeria.
Two, what people call an ‘insult’ is often subjectively determined. While no one wants to promote the use of rude language, the truth is that insult – defined as an offensive language that provokes one to anger – is protected speech in several jurisdictions including the USA. This is contrasted with what the US Constitution calls ‘fighting words’, defined as words “which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.
Three, most people who complain of being insulted by ‘social media warriors’ are ‘powerful’ people who throw the first punch and when their victims or their supporters respond, they turn around to play the victim.
Four, during the 2023 elections, the likes of Bayo Onanuga and Femi Fani Kayode used fighting words, clearly criminalised in most jurisdictions, to weaponise ethnicity in Lagos State . Yet, despite Onanuga openly proclaiming himself a Yoruba irredentist, the Tinubu government rewarded him with a frontline position in his government, suggesting an endorsement of his abominable actions during the elections.