Buhari: Beyond The Limits Of Insensitivities. By Kola Olaniran

“Loose lips sink ships” so they say.                          

This week, Nigeria’s regime leader Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) came under the heavy hammer of the Twitter when in his characteristically uncivilized manner released an uncouth, irresponsible message that smacks of insensitivity capable of heating up an already tensed up polity.

The message that was released on the Twitter sparked a global outrage among Nigerians at home and abroad and members of the diplomatic community in Nigeria.

The palpable fear of insecurity in the South East of Nigeria occasioned by the separatists’ agitation for the Biafran Republic should have called for calm from someone who claims to be ‘President’ in a multi-ethnic and diverse country.

Buhari had in a meeting with service Chiefs warned that he would not hesitate to deal with the agitators in a language they understand. What was thought to be a slip of the tongue was later released by Buhari’s handler/s on the Twitter to the chagrin of Nigeria who are already filled with bottled-up anger. It’s doubtful if Buhari who is not known to be familiar with the workings of the internet released the message himself but the message was recklessly spewed out of his mouth at a meeting.

While reacting to the message, former President Olusegun Obasanjo subtly chastised Buhari by saying that, “Right now, it (Nigeria) is a land flowing with bitterness and sadness. That is not what God wants this country to be.

We must change the narrative. We must talk to ourselves in a civilized message”

Nobel Laurate, Prof. Wole Soyinka in his own condemnation of Buhari says, “When, however, a head of state threatens to ‘shock’ civilian dissidents, to ‘deal with them in the language they understand’, and in a context that conveniently brackets opposition to governance with any blood thirsting enemies of state, we have to call attention to the precedent language of such a national leader under even more provocative, nation disintegrative circumstances.

“What a pity, and what a tragic setting, to discover that this language was accessible all the time to President Buhari, where and when it truly mattered, when it would have been not only appropriate, but deserved and mandatory!