El-Rufai Retweet, And CAN' s Misrepresentation of a Moral Point,by Adeolu Ademoyo

21 Feb 13, 05:43 PM, Africa/Lagos

This article is a reply to Mr Adeolu Ademoyo’s publication on the controversy surrounding Mr El-Rufai re-tweet, and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) misinterpretation of his tweet. He argued that El-Rufai did not commit any offence. CAN should leave him alone and pursue a case if any against the original author of the tweet Mr Ogunyemi Bukola. I commend Mr A Ademoyo for his publication. I do not, however, agree with his premise that Mr El-Rufai did not commit any offence as he was not the original author of the controversial tweet. I would borrow Mr Ademoyo’s ‘tone’. I wish to state that I am a Christian. I have never met Mr El-Rufai or Mr Oritsejafor. I am not an employee of CAN, neither do I have any link to CAN. Fellow compatriots, we are highly aware that religious issues would always trigger debate in our politicized society. Hence, I would want readers to eyeshot Mr El-Rufai tweet from another neutral angle, ‘a contributing factor’. This hypothesis could be used as a banner of perspicacity. Objectively, did Mr El-Rufai re-tweet contribute negatively to the original tweet? The answer is yes. I will employ simple illustration to water down this theory for proficient reasoning to individuals who may wish to critique this article.
There is a famous piece of advice which has stood the test of time as the cornerstone of knowledge. The origin is uncertain. Many have attributed it to Greek’s god of truth. Great philosophers have construed the advice differently. Plato for example, stated that we must cherish intellectual understanding of the true nature of things (for the mind is the true self). On assumption that the mind is the true self, when El-Rufai pushed that button to re-tweet, what was he thinking? We may not have any clue to the answer. Thales had said, nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe. This famous piece of advice is ‘know thyself’. Did El-Rufai know himself or know what the public perceived of him? The answer is no. El-Rufai forgot he has a public image. High profile people in any given society do not talk like parrots. Citizens expect certain threshold from public officers. I will habituate hypothetical scenarios to propel my argument. For instance, John told Tim that Peter is a thief, that he stole Raymond’s car two days ago. If Tim published that Peter is a thief referencing John as source of his information, Tim would still be liable for his actions. If the allegation proved to be fictitious, Peter has the locus standi to initiate proceedings against Tim to recover for damages thereof. Let’s flavour this from another recipe. Mr Ademoyo, you said you live in a small town in US. In your small town, there may be an alley where some people would obey the command of nature by urinating. The press or the community may pay less attention despite many people urinating at that spot. Assuming President Obama obeying the call of nature does same, (please with all due respect to Mr President, this is not in any way to ridicule him it’s just an illustration) what do you think will happen? It would be headline news all over the globe. Despite many people getting away with the same offense, it would be difficult for Mr President to get away with it easily because of his public image. In another example, if I tweet that ‘I hate Islam and Prophet Mohammed’ (Peace be unto Him. I do not hate Islam. I’m only using this as an example as this articles borders on religious issues. I love Islam. Please readers do not make a meal out of this, read with open mind) What do you think would happen if any western leader or any of our southern state governor in Nigeria re-tweet my tweet without editing? Without doubts, this would cause chaos, lives will be lost and millions of property destroyed. Hitherto, another good example is the Prophet Mohammed (peace be unto Him) cartoon which was published in some countries. The original author of the carton did not matter.
Based on the above illustrations, you would concur with me that El-Rufai re-tweet was not fair play. If we, of course, juxtapose the author of the original tweet to El-Rufai re-tweet, his re-tweet publicised the tweet. He is preying on Christians. You cannot exonerate him. Therefore, I opined that he acted in bad faith by republishing the tweet. There was a motive behind his tweet. I wish to assume that his is a devoted Muslim. Supposedly, one of the fundamental rules of every religion is to uphold morality and civilization. These fundamental religious rationales eluded him. If this tweet had anything to do with Islamic faith, will he re-tweet? The answer is no, because he would deem it blasphemous. In Nigeria, religious disturbances are not a new occurrence. As we are aware Boko Haram have been terrorising northern Nigeria. We have lost many innocent lives, what have El-Rufai said regarding the menace? No condemnation on records. He is, nevertheless, making a mockery of the Christian faith with his animalistic Islamism. His re-tweet is a contributing factor to the wide reactions to the tweet. That makes him a culprit. Even if, I would like to accept your line of argument that El-Rufai was only trying to emphasise on trending allegations by Oby Ezekwesili on Nigerian government mismanagement of the public funds. His position on corruption in Nigeria is like kettle calling pot black. According to Aeschylus a famous Greek play writer who is also known as the ‘Father of Tragedy’ he said that, in war, truth is the first tragedy. We are mindful that wars are fought and won on propagandanism. Socrates once said, I was really too honest a man to be a politician. El-Rufai has been so critical of the governments lately, we have to smell in depth and ask ourselves, what is he really up to? Probably he is perfecting his way to Aso Rock. He has now become the mouth piece of Nigerians craving for justice or the long awaited messiah to redeem our beloved country. I have a little advice for him, he should memorise this saying, the English do not remember and the Irish do not forget.
I’m not, therefore, advocating for corruption. Simply put, I hate corrupt leaders to my marrow. Their actions are vile to me. I wish that Nigeria could toe the path of Rawlings of Ghana. We need a thorough clean-up of our political class. He was one of the cabals that have cases to answer. In the words of Giovanni Boccaccio those who preach, do as we say not as we do. Edward Young once said, procrastination is the thief of time. He is using this current criticism of the government to lure the public into forgetting his atrocities. Although, I do understand that he apologised to CAN’s leadership. He was not, however, coerced to re-tweet; he did it out of his free will. Gautama Buddah once said, we are what we think. El-Rufai is not stupid he knew the consequences of his action. Ignoring all odds, he went ahead and did the damage. His apology seems an admission of guilt.
Nonetheless, as a Christian our religion or faith does not teach us revenge, rather the bible teaches us to love our enemies. CAN leadership should not sue El-Rufai even if they deem it fit. Let’s leave God battle for God. All he need is prayers for his repentance from his evil ways. May God (Allah) bless Nigeria. Amen.
Note: Views expressed in this article are personal. It is a reply to Mr Adeolu Ademoyo article, it could use for educational purposes. Please read with open mind. Thanks.
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Egwu F