An off-the-cuff comment by Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, about the importance of Hausa language, has pitted two prominent opposition figures on social media against each other.
Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation and unabashed critic
of the ruling APC, sparred with Reno Omokri, a former aide to President
Goodluck Jonathan and social media strategist, in a series of harsh
exchanges on Facebook Wednesday, with Mr. Fani-Kayode wishing he could
have Mr. Omokri’s “little bottom spanked for being so cheeky and
naughty.”
A Facebook user had on Tuesday afternoon drawn the attention of Mr.
Zuckerberg, who is visiting Nigeria, to the Facebook Hausa language
option and urged him to consider adding other major Nigerian languages
—especially Yoruba, Igbo and Fulfulde— to the platform to reflect the
country’s diversity.
“Thanks! I’m glad we support Hausa and we’re planning on supporting a lot more languages soon,” Mr. Zuckerberg responded.
Facebook introduced the Hausa language option about a month ago.
Mr. Fani-Kayode said the decision to add Hausa to Facebook was aimed
at advancing a purported age-long agenda of Britain and America to
prioritise the interests of the people of Northern Nigeria while
suppressing the fortunes of the Southerners.
Mr. Fani-Kayode also highlighted a conspiracy in the timing.
“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 to be included on
Facebook,” Mr. Fani-Kayode said. “Think Nigerians think.”
As with most of his posts, Mr. Fani-Kayode’s statement elicited
divergent reactions from many Nigerians on Facebook, including Mr.
Omokri.
“I do not understand why Kerry did what he did. But as for
Zuckerberg, all he did was state a fact. After Swahili, Hausa is perhaps
the most widely spoken language in sub-Saharan Africa.
“That is why BBC Hausa, Voice of America Hausa, Deutsche Welle and
other world radio services all have broadcasts in Hausa. We must applaud
what Zuckerberg has done and not cast suspicion around it.
“Doing so may encourage him to add other indigenous Nigerian languages as Facebook languages,” Mr. Omokri said.
But Mr. Fani-Kayode saw his ally’s take as an attempt to undermine
his long-suffering cause to liberate his people from the “yoke” of
“Western imperialists” and “internal colonial masters”.
“I read far more into this matter than you 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,” Mr. Fani-Kayode said.
“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.”
Unimpressed, Mr. Omokri doubled his efforts to knock down Mr. Fani-Kayode’s argument, saying the embattled former minister, who’s currently standing trial for graft charges, was missing the point.
“By including Hausa as an official Facebook language, Zuckerberg
recognises 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,” Mr, Omokri said.
Mr. Omokri said, although Facebook may have shown interest in Hausa
speakers by adding their language to its platform, the company was
making investments in start-ups that are situated in the southern part
of the country, adding that those were the consequential issues that
deserved mentions.
“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,” Mr. Omokri said. “Talk is cheap but money makes things
happen. Zuckerberg talked about Hausa, but he put his money in a Lagos
tech hub.”
At this point, Mr. Fani-Kayode indicated that he could no longer
swallow Mr. Omokri’s lectures, which were delivered with apparent
respect, saying the comments were superfluous as he had not actually
condemned Mr. Zuckerberg or Facebook.
“Now I am beginning to get a little irritated by you,” Mr.
Fani-Kayode said, adding that Mr. Omokri’s rebuttal to his observations
constituted a betrayal of trust.
“If I wanted to condemn you, him or anyone else, I would do so
loudly, openly, clearly and gladly,” Mr. Fani-Kayode said. “But I
haven’t done that: I simply disagreed with you and I was very civil
about it which I really didn’t have to be because you don’t deserve it.”
Mr. Fani-Kayode also dragged the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir
el-Rufai, into the crossfire, saying the former FCT Minister had
repeatedly warned him about Mr. Omokri.
“Our mutual friend, Nasir El Rufai, often warned me about you but I
never listened to him,” Mr. Fani-Kayode said. “Now you have proved him
right and all because you want to please your foreign and new-found
northern friends.”
Mr. Fani-Kayode then listed other areas in which Mr. Omokri allegedly
betrayed his former colleagues in the Jonathan administration.
But Mr. Omokri responded by saying he would not join issues with Mr. Fani-Kayode out of respect.
The feud spilled over to Twitter on Thursday morning, when PDP supporters on social media sued for peace.
Messrs. Fani-Kayode and Omokri have been playing a critical role in
distributing populism messages on behalf of the PDP on social media,
where the lingering economic crisis has helped the party regain its
voice.
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