Zahra Buhari’s polysemous remarks

The trending report on the remarks made by President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter at an event embeds serious messages beyond the political attacks and counter-responses that greeted it over the weekend. That was why it became so difficult for me to give this piece a suitable title. The disclosure clearly offered answers to some long debating questions in academic and political circles: such things as composing an all-compassing meaning of Nigerian politics, the future of Nigerian indigenous languages, linguistic paralysis and the national language question has been simplified by the remarks.

Defining Nigerian politics is a complicated business. Columnists, literary composers, dramatists and musicians do not present a similar case. The complication has roots in the diverse ethnic groups and faiths practiced by Nigerians.

Achebe, for example, was attacked for being an “ethnic nationalist”. Zahra’s comment is an expose of the use of religion and ethnicity by politicians as instruments of political deceit.

I can boldly say that Nigerian politicians care nothing more or less than winning support of the constantly victimised masses. In the process, they hire thugs and adopt strategies at midnight meetings. The most noticeable tool in recent days is “divide and rule”. No wonder, politicians do not miss prayers and gospel services in election seasons. They remember God when they are seeking people’s mandate and men of God line up in their defence when they loot public treasury. It is very common to see an imam or a pastor urging his followers to cast their votes for sodomists and adulterers, although both religions preach against the acts. The subscribers of charms and modern sorcery, the suckers of human blood and the consumers of alcohol turn to imams and pastors during elections. A word is enough for the wise voters.

On language, Zahra and many children of the political elite are victims of linguistic paralyse. History has maintained that the elite always desire to speak differently from the working class. In Nigeria’s case, English is the answer to the quest of superiority and prestige by the elitist citizens. Neither the politicians nor their children are perfect in both languages. While they are battling with alveolar-fricatives of English, they are totally incompetent in their native languages. Zahra Buhari is not an exception. Although her defenders may argue that Hausa is not her mother tongue, nobody is sure of her proficiency in Fulfulde. Again, having brought up in Hausaland, it is shameful of her to demonstrate nearly complete inability in the use of the language that the Chinese travel by air to come and learn its elementary grammar.

I have now made sense of what my lecturers in ABU told us on why the question of national language has remained unanswered. The blame is put on the leaders for not showing goodwill and commitment. How do we expect the Nigerian political elite to agree on one indigenous language or a combination of many (as Tanzania did while their children are weak in the languages).

Yusuf Musa   [email protected]