Chimamanda Tackles US, UK For Congratulating Nigeria’s President-Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Award winning Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie has slammed the leader of the United States of America, President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for congratulating her country’s president-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Chimamanda Adichie said this in her open letter to Biden on The Atlantic titled, ‘Nigeria’s Hollow Democracy’ on Thursday, and she said that the American president gave priority to stability than democracy in Africa.
She said, “How surprising then to see the U.S. State Department congratulate Tinubu on March 1. ‘We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted and the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time in a presidential election cycle.”
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The narrative on the Atlantic read further,
“And yet the process was described as a “competitive election” that “represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.”
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“American intelligence surely cannot be so inept. A little homework and they would know what is manifestly obvious to me and so many others: The process was imperiled not by technical shortcomings but by deliberate manipulation.
“I hope, President Biden, that you do not personally share this cordial condescension. You have spoken of the importance of a “global community for democracy,” and the need to stand up for “justice and the rule of law.”
“A global community for democracy cannot thrive in the face of apathy from its most powerful member. Why would the United States, which prioritizes the rule of law, endorse a president-elect who has emerged from an unlawful process?
“I hope it will not surprise you, President Biden, if I argue that the American response to the Nigerian election also bears the faint taint of that word, compromised, because it is so removed from the actual situation in Nigeria as to be disingenuous.”
Chimamanda Address The British Prime Minister
She went forward to tackle the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak in the latter part of her publication for congratulating the president-elect of Nigeria.
She went forward to write,
“Has the United States once again decided that what matters in Africa is not democracy but stability? (Perhaps you could tell British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who quickly congratulated Tinubu, that an illegitimate government in a country full of frustrated young people does not portend stability.)
“Or is it about that ever-effulgent nemesis China, as so much of U.S. foreign policy now invariably seems to be? The battle for influence in Africa will not be won by supporting the same undemocratic processes for which China is criticized.”
Taking to Instagram, Chimamanda added a caption to the post that had the link to the article.
The caption to the post reads,
“I supported Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate, and hoped he would win, as polls predicted, but I was prepared to accept any result, because we had been assured that technology would guard the sanctity of votes.
The smoldering disillusionment felt by many Nigerians is not so much because their candidate did not win as because the election they had dared to trust was, in the end, so unacceptably and unforgivably flawed.”
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