₦airaland Forum

Dear Maryam,

Thank you for your feedback. The way Nigerians currently speak English is not the way we always spoke it. Do yourself a favour and find a video of Sir Ahmadu Bello or Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa speaking English. You will notice that their accent is similar to that of my daughter and I.

The way Nigerians spoke English changed after the January 15, 1966 coup when mostly Igbo military officers wiped out the political leadership of the Federal Government and the Northern, Western, and Midwestern regional governments.

In studying linguistic etymology, people tend to speak like their leaders. When a whole generation of well-spoken leaders was killed and replaced by various soldiers whose spoken English was, at best, mediocre, it affected the quality of the English we speak in Nigeria.

The same thing happened in Uganda after the overthrow of Milton Obote by the semiliterate Idi Amin, who meant well but lacked the intellect to turn his vision into reality.

If you get videos of even ordinary Nigerians speaking English in marketplaces prior to 1966, you will observe that their spoken English is remarkably better than that spoken today.

So, please do not tell me to dumb down my spoken English. I rather challenge you, Maryam, to raise the standard of your spoken English and Hausa to match that of Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa. When the late Prime Minister spoke Hausa, it was as if honey was dripping from his mouth.

Read his book, Shaihu Umar. It was written in Hausa in 1934 and published in 1955. Seventy years later, no Hausa language book has even come close to Shaibu Umar.

I have all my children ONLY Itsekiri names. You see this child you see in this video? She dakun (kneels) to greet me every morning. She does not say good morning to me. She says it to others. To me, she says 'eri owuro owa mi' (good morning my father) in her British accent.

Maryam, we need to raise our intellect, not dumb it down!

Thanks again, and may God bless you.

#TableShaker

helinues:
Wetin be this bayi

Padipadi:
Ren0 Omocry is a bad recruit among ya APshit online agents. His bad mouth is too sharp.
Wetin yeeébos do him naaa?
The idiot is licking anus of janjaweèds at the detriment of his southern bradas. What money cannot do has not existed.
Helinues, Ren0 is the best attack dog ever in Nigeria history.

Johnpiss:
Nairaland should pls stop giving attention to Reno's Senseless post🙏

big4nothing JOHNBULL and a huge Richtaiwo Nettering nitwit :
Why?

Because his comments don't favour igbos?

In case you forgot, nairaland doesn't belong to igbos. It is a forum used mostly by Nigerians.

Don't by any chance assume it is ipob WhatsApp group.

saintokwuluora:
I pity Reno...he has time to repent.

nedu666:
This one has lost his mind completely. Obi thank you for ignoring the rat

Fortruth:
he is looking forward attention….and a job from APC…

Cmon APC, give that ugly NIGGER a job for goodness sake lol

TheBillyonaire:
He has gone from a Tinubu hater to a full blow anti-tribalist.

What a shame for those who call him father and friend.