BY PAUL OKADE Jr
Very few first Ladies of this great nation of ours
have been as maligned, ridiculed, insulted and disrespected as much as our current first lady. They have
insulted her with adjectives that I cannot even bring
myself to repeat on this medium. The most hurtful
for me as a proud Nigerian was when the first lady
began to endure insults because of her command of
the English language. And when you consider the
fact that the majority of these insults came from her
fellow Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora,
it was even more disheartening.
Who amongst us has not erred be it unintention-
ally at some point or another in either written or
spoken English? Even the so called custodians of the
language have made statements that would cause
their ancestors bones to rattle in their graves and
shriek with horror and sheer disbelief at their misuse
of the English language.
For example, President George W Bush, the last
Republican president of the United States of America made the following statements;
•
The German asparagus “are” fabulous
•
I thank the diplomatic corps, who “is” here
as well. March 12 2008
•
And they have no “disregard” for human life.
July 15 2008
•
Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and “persecuted”. September 19
2008
Sarah Palin, a Republican Governor and one time
Republican vice presidential candidate in the 2008
presidential elections made the following statements
•
I love “that” smell of the emissions. May 29
2011
•
But obviously we’ve got to stand with our
“North” Korean allies. Nov 24 2010
•
John McCain and I “we” love you and thank
23
you for spending a few minutes to talk to “me”
President Barack Obama, a man who is loved by
so many Nigerians despite the fact that since his
inauguration as President of the United States of
America in January 2009, has not even bothered
to come to Nigeria even once. Nigeria, the nation
which up until recently was supplying almost 25% of
his nations crude oil needs. Such is life. Some people
don’t want you, but are only interested in what you
have. It’s analogous to what happens in the lives of
so many beautiful women. Men are only interested
in their beauty and in the shape of their bodies, but
the real inner person (their emotions, spirituality,
aspirations, world view etc) is of no interest to them.
So when a Man tells her that he loves her so much,
what he’s probably talking about is the “physical”
part of her and nothing else.
Now you can understand why they’re so many
beautiful women in the world who are divorcees
today. The man married her because of her physical appearance, but after the wedding day he began
to notice the other side of her being (her character,
attitude etc) and then realized that he wasn’t as “in
love” with her as he had previously thought.
Anyway, back to Barack Obama, a graduate
of the “humanly” prestigious Harvard Law School
made the following statements;
•
The reforms we seek would bring greater
competition, choice, savings and “inefficiencies” to
our healthcare system. July 20 2009
•
The Middle East is obviously an “issue” that
has plagued the “region” for centuries. January 2010
•
Let me be absolutely clear, Israel has been a
strong friend of “Israels”. It will be a strong friend
of “Israels” under a McCain administration and it
will be a strong friend of “Israels” under an Obama
administration, so that policy isn’t going to change.
July 22 2008