Presidential poll: ‘She wrote fiction inspired by monumental loss of her tribesman,’ Tinubu’s camp tells US President to trash Adichie’s letter

The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged US President Joe Biden to “trash” an open letter addressed to him by famed author Chimamanda Adichie.

Chimamanda, in an open letter to US President Joe Biden published in The Atlantic on Thursday, noted that the a spokesperson for the US Department of State had acknowledged the frustration expressed over the conduct of the polls and technical glitches.

She expressed bewilderment that the envoy described the process as a “competitive election” that “represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.”

American intelligence “surely cannot be so inept”, she argued.

Responding in a terse tweet on Friday, the APC PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, urged Biden to dispose of the letter as soon as it arrives.

“Dear President Joe Biden, please just trash the open letter by Chimamanda on Nigeria’s election once it gets to your desk. She wrote fiction, inspired by the monumental loss of her tribesman Peter Obi,” he said.

Dear President Joe Biden, please just trash the open letter by Chimamanda on Nigeria’s election once it gets to your desk. She wrote fiction, inspired by the monumental loss of her tribesman Peter Obi. pic.twitter.com/7hq7iS3c7v

— Bayo onanuga (@aonanuga1956) April 7, 2023

While Chimamanda restated her support of Obi in her letter to the US president, the revered novelist made no mention of doing so based on ethnicity.

“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,” she said.

Obi had repeatedly urged his supporters to shun ethnic and religious sentiments, saying no one should vote for him based on either.