Re: Propagandocracy and the Buhari media centre

The above-mentioned piece, by Farooq Kperogi, appeared in Daily Trust of Saturday 4 March 2017. It was, among other things, a rejoinder to Muhammad Labbo’s article in the opinion column of Daily Trust on 2 March 2017. In paragraph 17 his 20-paragraph rejoinder, Dr Farooq Kperogi advised Muhammad Labbo to take ‘elementary lessons in grammar […]

The above-mentioned piece, by Farooq Kperogi, appeared in Daily Trust of Saturday 4 March 2017. It was, among other things, a rejoinder to Muhammad Labbo’s article in the opinion column of Daily Trust on 2 March 2017. In paragraph 17 his 20-paragraph rejoinder, Dr Farooq Kperogi advised Muhammad Labbo to take ‘elementary lessons in grammar and logic’. I will dwell much on this in due course.

I have followed Kperogi’s writings in the last few months and he seems to derive pleasure in insulting people, especially President Muhammadu Buhari’s supporters who do not share his views. A lot of people are appalled by the despicable language Dr Kperogi uses many a time. The conclusion my friends and I draw is that Kperogi is a disgrace to scholarship.

By all standards, Dr Kperogi knows his onions as an expert on English grammar. As an acclaimed scholar, Dr Kperogi should know that life is not restricted to “grammar and logic” – there are zillions of variables, factors and issues that influence man’s social, political, economic, cultural, legal and environmental activities. Reducing everything to “grammar and logic” by Dr Kperogi poignantly demonstrates that he is an educated illiterate – despite the fact that he is a PhD and teaches in an American University.

In the same issue of Daily Trust that Dr Kperogi threw tantrums at Muhammad Labbo and our dear PMB another Nigerian, much younger than him (Kperogi), was being celebrated. The novelist Chimamanda Adichie has been elected into the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Daily Trust 4 March 2017 page 38). She has etched her name in the annals of America’s great writers.

Kperogi should learn from Adichie and other greats in the literary world -Rabindranath Tagore, Jean-Paul Sartre, Abubakar Imam, Abubakar Gimba, Achebe, Soyinka, Senghor, et al – and enter the hall of fame in scholarship. 

You, Dr Kperogi may be too thick-headed to join the club of the great icons. But, you can contribute to scholarship in many ways without insulting PMB and other leaders you do not agree with. Let me assure you that your “Politics of Grammar” column is good. You could continue along that line and Allah (SWT) knows how many great heights you can attain beginning with your seminal work on “glocal” English. Dr Kperogi, my humble advice to you is:  do not stray into areas like logic which obviously you are an ignoramus. There is no logic you can refer to from Socrates, Aristotle, etc to the present day to deny the achievements of PMB especially in the fight against corruption. Therefore, stop chasing shadows with your sesquipedalian grammar.

Dr Kperogi, you have the mistaken impression that it was people like you that worked for PMB’s epic victory in 2015: this is a monumental lie and a delusion. Buhari had built a solid reputation in public service from the mid-60s to the mid-80s as outlined above. Most of the voters in Nigeria and most parts of Africa and even advanced countries are not swayed by campaign slogans which you are obsessed with ad nauseam. In essence, the success of Buhari at the 2015 polls was more on his integrity than sloganeering. After all, how many voters read newspaper columns – even in advanced countries?

Even if they do, it is not columns like yours that stand logic on its head. Yet, with a volcanic voice, my dear US college professor, you claim to profess logic.

As for Muhammad Labbo, older people have told us that he is a journalist too and a quintessential reporter on the Nigerian Television Authority. As an academic, you need to be humble and consult people like him to learn the ropes of electronic journalism and possibly add value to your students in America. Not for you an arm-chair critic to criticize everybody that disagrees with you; discuss issues like logic which you do not know; and arrogantly pontificating as if you are the only grammarian. Learn from other Daily Trust columnists like Bala Muhammad,  Mohammed Haruna (now an electoral umpire), Dr Jibrin Ibrahim, Adamu Adamu (now Minister of Education) and Jideofor Adibe who do not insult anybody in their columns.

Some readers, once in a while, disagree with them. But it does not reduce their status as great icons in the fourth estate of the realm. My last word for you Dr Kperogi is: be sensible, logical, accurate, objective and learn to criticize constructively.

Khalifa Musa Muhammad, Kaduna.