Efio-Ita Nyok|27 June 2017
Mr Cornelius Ellah, a Mass Communication lecturer with the Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH), Monday, expressed wonder over President Muhammadu Buhari's 25th June Eid-el-Fitr address in Hausa NegroidHaven has learnt.
Lecturer Ellah who observed that every message has a target audience said that he couldn't understand what President Buhari said in Hausa. He therefore had thought that the message wasn't meant for him. However, on reading the print version of the message and seeing where the President was greeting 'all Nigerian Muslims and our brother Christians on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr' as well as enjoining them to 'avoid reckless statements or actions against our fellow countrymen', Ellah expressed wonder.
Hear him out: 'Every message has a target audience. When I listened to President Buhari's Sallah message to Nigerians today, I couldn't understand what was being said, because the message was delivered in Hausa language. I don't understand that language. Neither am I a Muslim.
'Therefore, I assumed that the message wasn't meant for me. But when I saw the same message in print, I noticed that our President was actually greeting ''all Nigerian Muslims and our brother Christians on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr:''
'The message also enjoined all Nigerians to ''avoid reckless statements or actions against our fellow countrymen.'' I admire the brevity and conciseness of the message. However, I wonder why the original message addressed me in Hausa language.
'In the spirit of that original Sallah message, I hope that nobody would accuse me of being reckless in my statements and actions, when I also start using my native Ibil dialect while addressing the general public and my leaders, in particular. In short, I am ending this post with these words: gafor whn wah. Ada Buhari, Ishowor jol nenah. Nob baba nogor afenghe ba itek. Gogo, ada jama'.
Meanwhile, the publisher of FearlessReports, Mr Inyali Peter, has slammed the media aides to the President, who according to him are deliberately working to undo their principal. Peter added that if the controversial audio purportedly coming from the presidency was meant to quell doubts over the alleged speech impairment of Buhari, then the media aides had goofed. He advised them to positively project their principals image while expressing doubt over the authenticity of the audio.
Hear him, 'I have insisted that President Buhari's PR persons are grossly incompetent or are deliberately working to ridicule him.
'It is ridiculous and mischievous for people to just bring out audio purportedly voiced by a man Nigerians have not heard anything from for over 50 days.
'I don't understand Housa(sic) but I didn't hear any specific voice clearly. Nigerians are clever, smart and intelligent. This kind of thing is a joke taken too far.
'If the move was to counter the report making the round that the President has suffered speech impediment, then they have goofed big time.
'But on a second thought, the said audio may emanate from mischief makers who are bent on misleading the public. But if that's the case, how many hours would it take the government information machineries to refute it?
'I wish our dear President speedy recovery. But his PR machineries should work to project his image positively not the other way round.
Did you understand Nigeria's President address in Hausa?
See English translation of President Muhammadu Buhari's now controversial message on this year's Eid-el-Fitr:
"I am immensely grateful to God for his mercy in guiding us successfully to conclude another Ramadan fast. My greetings to all Nigerian Muslims and our brother Christians on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr.
May the lessons of Ramadan namely; piety, self-denial, prayers and generosity to the poor and needy be with us for all time.
I, again, appeal to all Nigerians to avoid reckless statements or actions against our fellow countrymen. We should all resolve to live in peace and unity in our great country, which is the envy of many less endowed nations.'
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger, the Editor & Publisher of NegroidHaven
