Nigeria is a country of many happenings and sometimes the gaffes that come along create moments of reflection, sometimes awe, sometimes surprise and astonishment. THE NEWS DIGEST recalls some of the gaffes and statements that rocked the country’s polity in recent times.
My Wife belongs to the other room – PMB
President Muhammadu Buhari, who was on a state visit to Germany, had responded to a BBC interview over his wife’s altercations against his leadership.
Mr Buhari’s response raised a storm in a teacup while reacting to the question, saying: “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.”
Apparently, this comment did not go down well with many Nigerians, especially the feminists who found the statement insulting and unnecessary.
Many persons stated that the statement clearly shows that the President does not appreciate women well enough, hence he degraded them to serving as a stooge or hanger-on to the men. This, perhaps, would be one of the top comments the President would have imagined not making.
Transmission Transition – IGP Idris Ibrahim
Perhaps, Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, would not have believed that his rendition of grammar will transmit into errors and transit into his inability to pronounce words properly. But it happened at an event where he went to commission a project. For several minutes, the Police inspector-general kept repeating words that were not in tandem with the purpose of the event.
He found a way to say sorry but even after the sorry, he was unavoidably caught with mistakes. The video showing his gaffe which has been said to be caused by a medical condition attracted wide reaction with many expressing disappointment at such situation.
However, many leapt to his defence that the situation should not be used to judge his competency.
Wart and all, it would, however, remain one of the top grammatical disorders in the country.
Lazy Youths Comment – PMB
Yet again, Mr Buhari was asked during a panel appearance with world leaders at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London on what his thoughts are on Free Trade, this is what he had to say:
“More than 60 per cent of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare, education free,”
However, according to Wikipedia, Free Trade is a free market policy followed by some international markets in which countries’ governments do not restrict imports from, or exports to, other countries.
Based on this definition, the answer of Mr Buhari failed to address the question. The gaffe remains one that irked Nigerian youths.
Some of the youths stated that instead of the President to promote Nigerian youths in the International scene, he only worsened the reputation of youths when he was not even asked anything relating to youths but rather his thoughts on Free Trade.
We have institutionalized EFCC by building a huge structure – Magu
Sometimes ago, The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, was asked, during a program in the Channels Television, on what he had done to institutionalize the anti-graft agency, he had this answer to the question:
“I think the fact that we have been able to put this structure in place which has been slated for commissioning today and it has gone through three administrations in the EFCC plus me. It started from Mr Nuhu Ribadu, then Farida Waziri and Ibrahim Lamorde and me I’m trying to complete…we have completed it, shows we have institutionalized EFCC”
However, Mr Magu could not answer the question because he was far from answering the question. A simple check at Businessdictionary.com reveals that to institutionalize is a process means to integrate fundamental values and objectives into the organization’s culture and structure.
Additionally, institutionalisation translates to an organization’s code of conduct, mission, policies, vision, and strategic plans into action guidelines applicable to the daily activities of officers and other employees of an organisation.
However, Mr Magu’s gaffe has not really been celebrated much like others.
