The Attorney General of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, while addressing a press conference, forfeited the country’s official language to speak in Hausa, a dialect native to most of the northern region of the country.
Mr Malami, in a video on Thursday morning 1st July 2021, during a segment of an Arise TV programme, showed him speaking to State House correspondents in Hausa. The attorney general had been announcing the arrest of secessionist group leader Nnamdi Kanu to press in the native language.
Speaking in Hausa, Mr Malami said:
“I want to let you know that when he jumped bail and started inciting the general public to sabotage the peace and unity of the Nigerian state through media platforms like the radio television and social media…It is on that note that I want to announce that the Nigerian government has successfully arrested and brought back Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria through the help of Nigerian intelligence agency.”
Though English is used as Nigeria’s official language to ease communication, the Nigerian Constitution recognises three major language groups; Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba.
The Attorney General has however come under a lot of backlash by citizens on social media for the announcement on national television in a language spoken by a fraction of the country’s 200 million people, without making arrangements for other languages to be represented.
Some analysts agree that Mr Malami’s action was in line with the Buhari regime’s brazing preference for tilting towards northern in matters of national concern.
The Buhari regime has over time been accused of being very nepotistic. This sentiment has fuelled agitations for self determination and secession in other parts of the country.
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