The pan Igbo
socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has berated President Muhammadu
Buhari for addressing the nation in Hausa language.
Buhari in
his sallah message to Muslim faithfuls had spoken to Nigerians in Hausa, a
situation that has caused outrage in the country.
The
Presidency had released the audio to debunk report that Buhari was suffering
from speech impairment.
Reacting to
the audio message by Buhari, Deputy Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo,
Chuks Ibegbu said Nigeria has descended to the level of a ‘Banana Republic.’
Addressing
newsmen in Enugu, on Sunday, Ibegbu said the authenticity of the audio message
should be investigated.
According to
Ibegbu, if the audio was found to be authentic, then there was a big problem.
He said,
“First of all, we have to ascertain the veracity of the voice because in these
days of technology, a lot of things can be cloned, including human voice.
“But if it
is true that Mr. President addressed Nigerians in a local language, it means
something is wrong somewhere.
“I want to
believe that the voice is not real, but if it is Mr. President that actually
spoke, then, it means that we have descended to the level of a Banana Republic.
“The Federal
Government should tell Nigerians whether it is actually Mr. President’s voice,
or not.”
Daily post reported that the Ohanaeze
spokesperson stressed that the address couldn’t have been meant for Nigerians
if it was delivered in Hausa.
“Which
message; message to who; in what language? Is Hausa our lingua franca? If Mr.
President wants to address us, he should talk to us in English, which is our
lingua franca,” he said.
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