Buhari’s Eid speech in Hausa was awful

by Alexander O. Onukwue

Why did the advisers of President Buhari allow a national speech in Hausa language to become public knowledge?

In the first place, there are doubts that it was President Buhari himself who had given the speech, but it may have been better if it were so. The purported Eid speech to felicitate with Nigerians celebrating the Muslim holiday was pronounced, not in the language with which all Nigerians are conversant, but in one language of one ethnic group.

Predictably, it has not been received well. To put the majority of the reactions into mild mix, it was wrong.

As the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, an address to the nation in commemoration of a feast or holiday should be communicated, not to persons of one group, but to all. There are very many persons of other ethnic nationalities, including Yorubas and Binis, who are Muslims. Was the President’s Hausa speech supposed to cover them as well?

Or was President Buhari’s speech a private message to a select group of family and friends, which got leaked and broadcast as a national message? It does not appear likely. It was a conscious message to all Nigerians.

And to have come at this time when there is a North versus South strain buoyed by quit notices, the President’s act of addressing the nation in one language has made him appear to favour one part of the country over another.

President Buhari may be in that state of mind that makes it easier to speak with one’s own more comfortable language, in which case he felt more at ease to speak in Hausa. In that case, the advisers and media handlers must take the blame for allowing the mishap of making the audio public. It was awful, and they have to do better.

One comment

  1. The action of Mr President has proved some us that accused him of been tribalistic and unforgiving person to be true.

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