finalboss:
last night Femi Fani-Kayode wrote a piece
about US secretary of state John Kerry and
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's visit to
Nigeria & how it has something to do with
the Hausas. He wrote;
"Kerry comes to the north and sees
the Sultan of Sokoto, northern
governors and Buhari. One week later
Facebook founder comes to Nigeria
and says Hausa is a "unique
language" which he has included on
Facebook. Think Nigerians think".
Hours later, former presidential aide Reno
Omokri reacted to FFK's comment. He wrote;
FFK responded to Reno Omokri
Nice to hear from u. Permit me to
begin by saying that I never miss ur
write-ups and I thank God that we still
have people as discerning and as bold
as u in our country. Pls keep it up.
Now to the business of the day.
Thanks for taking your time to
respond to my post. Perrmit me to
respond to you very briefly. What Mark
Zuckerberg said about the Hausa
language being "unique" is not a fact
but an opinion. And it is an opinion
which, in fairness to him, may well be
honestly held. It is also an opinion
which you evidently share and which
both u and he u are perfectly entitled
to. I am, however, entitled to disagree
with u on that opinion especially
where I have good reason to do so.
You see unlike most I do not post,
speak or write lightly. I take my time, I
do my research and I am very precise.
That is my style and nature. The
choice of hausa being put on
Facebook is not just a matter if
"linguistic uniqueness" I assure u. And
to honestly believe that it does
borders on pure naivety. There is
nothing unique about the number of
coutries in west Africa that speak
Hausa and I do not believe that Hausa
is the most widely spoken language in
west Africa though many often say it
is. It is rather like the common refrain
that the hausas number more than
any other nationality in Nigeria when
we all know how and when that
particular dirty lie came about and
how the British constructed it by
counting the cows of the north and
adding them to the number of
northerners that they counted in the
first census. If the truth be told even
then and up until now the Igbo and
the Yoruba are more than the Fulani
and the Hausa. If u doubt my
assertion about the lack of uniqueness
of the Hausa language, please do the
research and find out how many
countries that Yoruba, for example, is
spoken in both in West Africa and
outside of the African continent in
South America and the Carribean.
Also read up on the history of the BBC
and VOA Hausa Service and why they
were set up by their respective
governments. Ditto the German hausa
radio service and others. It made
perfect sense because most hausa
men carried radios around with them
everywhere they went whilst their
southern compatriots, being far more
advanced and educated, prefered
reading newspapers and watching
television. It is not just a matter if
linguistic uniqueness I assure u but
evidence of the fact that the British
particularly always had, and still do
have, a strong partiality for the Hausa
Fulani compared to any other
nationality in Nigeria. The reasons for
that are legion so I won't go into them
here. Needless to say though, the
history on this matter is very clear and
I suggest you read up on it. It appears
that the American authorities, at least
the Obama/Kerry/Clinton brigade, are
following in the footsteps of the
British colonial masters in terms of
their preferred friends in Nigeria and
indeed American private companies
like Facebook, just like British private
companies did in the former British
colonies before them, are towing the
line of their governments. It is not too
difficult to work that one out for the
intelligent. I guess only time will tell if
I am right but these are my views. In
any case I wonder how many hausa-
speaking people are on Facebook
when compared to Yoruba and Igbo. I
read far more into this matter than u
do because I am not just a politician
but a historian. I also have my views
about the social media generally, its
link to the top western intelligence
agencies and what its ultimate
objective is. I have been proved right
in the end on most of my assertions
about unfolding events in this country
and indeed world affairs as u may or
may not know. I doubt that this will be
any different. Unlike most people I do
not let my friendship or personal-
liking or disliking of an individual
becloud my judgement. My reasons
for believing what I believe will be
made manifest at the appropiate time.
If u are really interested in knowing
what those reasons are I suggest you
exercise a little patience and u will
find out. U may even learn something
from it. By the way unlike u I think it
would be an excellent innovation if
Facebook introduced other Nigerian
languages like Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw etc..
As far as I am concerened the more
inclusive it is the better. I wish u well
and please keep writing those
excellent essays on the situation in
our country. Shalom
Omokri responds to FFK
Dear Olufemi Olu-Kayode
Thank you for your kind rejoinder to my
response to your take on Mark Zuckerberg's
comment on the Hausa language. Here is my
response.
That Mark Zuckerberg called Hausa a unique
language is not born out of any conspiracy
against the Yoruba, Igbo or any Southern
Nigerian ethnic nationality. The Hausa
language is not an invention of the Hausa
people. The language was invented by God
and so whenever anyone praises it, they are
not praising the Hausa people, they are
praising God.
You say I am naive for accepting, as
Zuckerberg does, that the Hausa language is
unique. Really? Hausa language is the only
indigenous African language that is officially
spoken in five African nations including
Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Cameroun and Sudan.
If your argument is true and I am indeed
naive then you would have to agree with me
that BBC News, Radio France Internationale,
Voice of America - VOA, DW Deutsche Welle,
China Radio International and Voice of
Russia are equally naive, because, like
Facebook, they all have a Hausa language
service.
You may be right about the British/American
conspiracy. I never delved into that and I
defer to your superior knowledge of history
and statecraft. Your father, Remilekun Fani-
Kayode, QC, was a first class statesman and
the apple did not fall far from the tree. My
point of departure from you was strictly and
solely as touching your insinuation against
Mark Zuckerberg.
By including Hausa as an official Facebook
language, Zuckerberg recognizes the fact that
while there are literally tens of millions of
Yoruba, Igbo and other indigenous Nigerian
language speakers who can communicate in
both their native language and English, the
same cannot be said about Hausa speakers.
In Benin, Togo, Brazil and other nations
where you have a large concentration of
Yoruba speakers, these omo oduduwas can
express themselves in English, French,
Spanish or Portuguese.
There are literally tens of millions of Hausa
speakers who can only communicate in
Hausa. This does not make them illiterate.
Indeed, long before we in the South could
read and write, these Hausa speakers have
been reading and writing Hausa in the
centuries old Ajami script.
It is to accommodate these particular class
of Hausa speakers that, in my opinion,
Facebook added Hausa as an official
language, and not as part of some
conspiracy of Britain and America to
undermine the Southern parts of Nigeria. You
may recall that Zuckerberg and his wife
recently invested $25 million in Andela. That
would be a most strange way to undermine
the South given that all of Andela's founders
and most of their fellows are from the South.
Talk is cheap but money makes things
happen. Zuckerberg talked about Hausa, but
he put his money in a Lagos tech hub. Does
that not say something to you?
The mistake we in the South often make is to
see ordinary Hausas as our enemies. Not
true. The Hausas as a people are some of
the most decent Nigerians and are to be
differentiated from the feudalists who have
retarded their progress as an ethnic
nationality. What they need from progressive
and freedom loving Nigerians is solidarity
not hostility. This was the point of view that
the late Aminu Kano tried to pass across to
us down South.
What Facebook has done deserves
commendation and not condemnation. Again,
having said this, I must maintain that I have
a high regard for your intellect and this
intervention should not be interpreted as a
confrontation.
God bless you.
Reno Omokri
FFK to Reno
Reno Omokri, now I am beginning to get a
little irritated by you. Is there anywhere that I
condemned you, Zuckerberg or Facebook for
having your/their views?
If so please point it out. Perhaps you don't
know the meaning of the word "condemned"
yet you seem so eager to use it.
If I wanted to condemn you, him or anyone
else I would do so loudly, openly, clearly and
gladly but I havn't done that: I simply
disagreed with you and I was very civil about
it which I really didnt have to be because you
don't deserve it.
In any case are you the spokesman of Mark
Zuckerberg and Facebook or indeed that of
the hausa people of northern Nigeria?
Is that your new job since you stopped
working under my friend and brother Reuben
Abati at the Villa and managing social media
for the Jonathan administration?
Can those you want to defend today not
explain and defend themselves adequately?
Do they need you? Could they not have
found someone more qualified? Are you
really the best they have got?
And if you insist on being their defender-in-
chief when were you appointed? Honestly
Reno my dear little brother you need to have
your little bottom spanked for being so
cheeky and naughty.
I have known the north and interacted with
northerners far more than you and for far
longer so I don't need lessons from you or
anyone else about who or what they are,
either for good or for bad.
And neither do I need to say only things that
are politically correct about them.or anyone
else because, unlike you, I have paid my dues
politically and in terms of public commentry
for over a period of 27 years.
I worked in the Presidency as President
Obasanjo's spokeman as far back as 13
years ago. I don't know where you were then.
I ran, not one, but two Federal ministries as
the Hon. Minister over 10 years ago and
since then I have been in the thick of the
political fray and drama.
I know who I am and I don't need to please
anyone with what I say. I was in NADECO
risking my life fighting against military rule
and for the late Chief MKO Abiola's June
12th mandate when you were probably still
wearing diapers.
I know the north and indeed this whole
country far better than you ever possibly
could and over the years I have gained and
gathered a lot of experience.
I have also suffered for Nigeria far more
than you have. I say this all with the greatest
humility knowing that it is only God that
made it so and that enabled me to survive it.
The result of all that is this: I do not suffer
fools gladly and I say things as they are.
I have no apology to you or anyone else for
that. If others had cultivated the courage to
be as bold and forthright as I have been on
national issues over the years we would not
be in the mess that we are in this country.
You dare to lecture me about northerners
and I wonder how many you actually know? I
wonder how many you have ever fought for
or defended in the past?
I also wonder how many you have stood up
against when they crossed the line? I have
done both over a period of 27 years and it
cost me dearly but I have never shied away
from it, whichever way, and I will continue to
do so. I have also lived in the north for the
last 13 years.
Our mutual friend Nasir El Rufai often warned
me about you but I never listened to him.
Now you have proved him right and all
because you want to please your foreign and
new-found northern friends.
Sadly your gospel of appeasement at all
costs is shared by many naive souls who
come from the same village as you but that
does not mean that we should allow you to
infect the rest of the south with it.
That slavish mindset and shameless
sentiment has brought much suffering to the
people of the south-west and south-south
and it is one of the reasons why we made the
wrong choice about which side to fight on
during the civil war.
We will never make that mistake again if it
ever comes to it no matter how hard fence-
sitters and appeasers like you try.
The more our people are killed and our
churches are burnt in the noth the more we
will protest and speak out. And the more we
will resist it and warn the radical islamists of
the core muslim north together with the
Fulani herdsmem from hell to desist from
their murderous and genocidal ways.
Not even 100 million Reno Omokiri's can
stop us from doing that and neither can they
make us love those that commit these
heinous crimes.
You are spouting the sort of drivel that you
are throwing up here about how wonderful
the core north is even though thousands of
southerners, Middle Belters and christians
are slaughtered at the drop of a hat in that
same core north for no just cause on a daily
basis. They even come down to the south in
their thousands with their cows to do it these
days.
Maybe you should come home and see what
is really going on here rather than writing
those great anti-government articles from the
relative safety of Califiornia.
If you can muster the courage to do that you
will discover that political correctness is a
very expensive luxury which we simply
cannot afford.
Some of us are right here and we have
refused to run away from the evil that has
gripped the land even when we had every
opportunity to do so.
Please endeavour to do the same then
perhaps we may take you more seriously.
Hundreds of your fellow Niger Deltans and
southerners are languishing in jails all over
the country today simply because they
supported a southern Christian called
President Jonathan during the election yet
you hsve not even cared to visit any of
them.
Have you ever reached out to their families
or tried to bail them out? Have you been to
the jails and cells to offer them care or
words of comfort and encouragement?
Have you even gone there to pray for them
and express solidarity with them? Warimpa
Dudafa your former colleague at the Villa
has been there for over 150 days now.
Have you gone to see him? What about
Ikime and Robert when they were there? What
about all the others? The answer is no
because I have asked.
Yet you were in the last government with
them and many others but you couldn't even
stand in solidarity with them when they
needed you the most. And if you did you
insisted on doing so from a safe distance. It
is a shame.
Then you have the nerve to talk about
"southerners" making a mistake about
northerners in a disparaging and
condescending way. What a nerve you have
got!
Your sarcastic assertion about the BBC and
the other international radio stations being
"naive as well" is nothing less than asinine.
The truth is that you are the naive one. You
alone and not them. If you really believe the
garbage that you wrote here then you are not
just naive but dangerously naive and far
dumber than I first thought.
I say this because the governments that own
and control the BBC, the Voice of America
and the others know exactly what they are
doing.
If only you knew the history of imperialism in
Africa and indeed the Third World and how it
evolved and if only you were capable of
appreciating the reality of neo-colonialism
and history of the African people you would
be in a better position to comprehend and
understand what I am saying.
If only you knew what we as a people in
Nigeria and Africa suffered in the hands of
the western imperialists over the last 100
years you would appreciate this intervention
instead of attempting to treat it with
contempt just to impress your friends at
Facebook and in California.
It is the naivity and ignorance of people like
you that has put us in the mess we are in
today and that has placed us firmlyl under
the yoke of our intetnal colonial masters.
I urge you to continue to attempt to appease
those that see you and those that think like
you as nothing more than glorified monkeys
and see how far it gets you.
As for Mark Zuckerberg he may do whatever
he pleases with Facebook because he owns
it. In the final analysis it means nothing to
me.
Like I said earlier, he is entitled to his views.
I have no problem with that and neither
should you or him have any problem with
mine.
It is only in your strange Warri vocabulary
that disagreeing with someone or not sharing
that person's opinion is tantamount to
"condemning" him.
I am sure that he is very happy with you for
attempting to defend him here but surely you
could have done a far
better job than you
did.
Keep writing critical essays against the
government from California or wherever you
are because it is far easier for you to do so
from there.
Those of us that are here and that are not
just arm chair critics and political
commentators but that are actually in the
fray of politics will continue this fight right
here in the theater of war: and unlike others
we won't run and hide in Mark Zuckerberg's
California.
My regards to your family.
Omokri responds to FFK
Dear Olufemi Olu-Kayode
Thank you for your last response.
Since it has reached the stage where you are
irritated with me, I think it is best to leave
well enough alone.
Let us agree to disagree
without being irritated by each other. I have
said all I need to say on the matter of Mark
Zuckerberg's description of the Hausa
language as being unique. and I have heard
all you have to say. Thank God we are both
professing Christ followers and are thus
familiar with the advise of Saint Paul in 2
Timothy 2:24 "the servant of the Lord must
not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to
teach, patient."
I believe that affection is better than
perfection. I choose to maintain my brotherly
affection for you at the expense of perfection
in my argument.
By the way, I was in Nigeria two weeks ago. I
preached at Holyhill Church, Abuja. The
pastor Sunday Ogidigbo publicized my visit.
If I was a coward as you claim and was
speaking from the safety of California, why
would I visit Nigeria after my strong and very
public criticism of the current
administration?
Let me drop my pen here. God bless you and
yours.
Reno Omokri
http://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2016/09/ffk-and-reno-omokri-spar-on-facebook.html?m=1 I don't like both but I think Reno is more sincere than FFK. FFK is a bigot. Always making references along religious and ethnic lines while Reno talk on facts but sometimes biased. |
