Hyper-banters at Trust Dialogue
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- Category: Philosofaith
- Written by M. U. Ndagi
- Hits: 1612
Seventeen days today after Media Trust Limited hosted the seventh annual Trust Dialogue in Abuja during which former President Olusegun Obasanjo advised his “hand-picked” successor to “take the path of honor” in the given circumstance urging him to hand over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan; criticisms have continued to trail this public declaration of Obasanjo, which though sounded more hypocritical than perceived by serving political office holders and members of the ruling party. To others, it was a matter of a wrong person saying the right thing. Anyway, the concern of this column is to attempt to examine the hyper-talks of some special guests at the occasion.
When in 1964 Nadel S. F. unveiled the theory of “language morality”, little did it occur to him that some people in the use of language, four decades later, were going to defy the postulations of the theory. According to Nadel, the prudish morality of a people or culture reveals itself in the linguistic usage of terms. The British scholar who spent some time conducting researches in Nigeria further maintains that every language distinguishes between polite expression and a careless talk. While the former is characteristic of every responsible adult, the latter is peculiar to adolescent boys and girls only. Nadel also opines that when it becomes unavoidable for adults in the use of a particular language to speak about obscenity and related matters; euphemisms, metaphors or circumlocutions are employed to do so without losing any sense of morality. This theory believes that except for the uncultured, adults do not use lewd expressions especially at formal gatherings. However, the exchange of “sexually tinged banter” (as Mahmud Jega, my senior colleague in writing would call it) between some “distinguished” guests at the Trust Dialogue of Thursday 21st January 2010 puts Nadel’s theory on trial. It was a day on which the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton became a theater of some barefaced comedians. The rule in Nadel’s theory, on that day, seemed to have disproved itself against the exception.
A public gathering, a formal one like the Trust Dialogue for that matter, is certainly not the best place for shaggy-dog-stories from “leaders”. It is not part of humor when hyper-banters take the place of inspirational speeches expected from dignitaries at a public function. It all began when Chief Obasanjo in his opening address remarked that his landmark visit to apartheid South Africa in 1986 during which himself and other members of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group met with Mrs. Winnie Mandela who gave them a deep insight in to the situation in South Africa at that time. When Mrs. Mandela rose to deliver her speech, she first appreciated Obasanjo’s comments but added that he (Obasanjo) forgot to mention that he passed the night in her house. This expectedly resulted into a burst of laughter from the audience. To “entertain” the audience further, Chief Obasanjo quickly grabbed the microphone and added, “It was a very enjoyable night”. Of course, such a naked banter coming from Obasanjo was bound to sustain a prolonged laughter in the audience. At the end of the “show”, Mrs. Winnie Mandela in the attempt to help Obasanjo or herself or both out of the ridicule, said “Yes, he slept in the guest room”.
Hajiya Naja’atu Mohammed, a woman activist, also contributed her quota to the receptacle of hyper-locutions. In her speech at the occasion, she disclosed that she had to physically (not metaphorically) back a governor during one of the political campaign rallies. This column believes that such a “dirty’ story was indecent to be relayed to that distinguished audience. Such a narration at a public function especially coming from a Muslim Woman is viewed as unfortunate. We wonder at the downbeat impact of such a story on our youths and children who were or might be privileged to listen to her speech on a television channel.
Given the brand of his own chitchats, Talban-Minna was perhaps the main character in the hyper-speech drama at the Transcorp Hilton. He was so engrossed in the euphoria of the dissipated hyper-jokes that he went in to introducing some guests at the occasion including my elder brother, Mohammed Haruna; a job we thought the master of ceremony would have done better. The Chief Servant of Niger state sought the permission of Chief Obasanjo to say what he considered embarrassing to the latter saying “With your permission sir, I want to embarrass you…”. The import of this is that if Obasanjo granted the permission, it would not matter even if what he was going to say sounded offensive to the sensitivity of the large crowd of audience at the occasion. After securing the go-ahead, Talban-Minna said, “It’s better to be a womanizer than to be a homosexual”. No matter how best his intentions were, such a statement sought to legalize the prohibited, which Muslim jurists call “Tahlil ul-Haram”. Further in his stage show, Talban-Minna asked “Hajiya” Naja’atu to clarify to the audience at what age she backed the governor!
We hope Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu and other irreverent speakers at the Trust Dialogue are aware that, as leaders, their speeches in public and private life mean a lot to their listeners. That which we remember of our conduct is sometimes ignored even by our closest neighbor; but that which we have forgotten having said most often remains in people’s memory for the longest period. Muslim relates on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (SAW) said, “Let whosoever believe in Allah and in the Last Day speak good or be silent…”. Let us remember that under every speech that is devoid of moral taste lies a silence that is better. May Allah (SWT) guide us to know that while silence is as deep as eternity, speech may be as shallow as time, amin.
Articles
Hyper-banters at Trust Dialogue
Category: Philosofaith Written by M. U. Ndagi Hits: 1612
Seventeen days today after Media Trust Limited hosted the seventh annual Trust Dialogue in Abuja during which former President Olusegun Obasanjo advised his “hand-picked” successor to “take the path of honor” in the given circumstance urging him to hand over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan; criticisms have continued to trail this public declaration of Obasanjo, which though sounded more hypocritical than perceived by serving political office holders and members of the ruling party. To others, it was a matter of a wrong person saying the right thing. Anyway, the concern of this column is to attempt to examine the hyper-talks of some special guests at the occasion.
When in 1964 Nadel S. F. unveiled the theory of “language morality”, little did it occur to him that some people in the use of language, four decades later, were going to defy the postulations of the theory. According to Nadel, the prudish morality of a people or culture reveals itself in the linguistic usage of terms. The British scholar who spent some time conducting researches in Nigeria further maintains that every language distinguishes between polite expression and a careless talk. While the former is characteristic of every responsible adult, the latter is peculiar to adolescent boys and girls only. Nadel also opines that when it becomes unavoidable for adults in the use of a particular language to speak about obscenity and related matters; euphemisms, metaphors or circumlocutions are employed to do so without losing any sense of morality. This theory believes that except for the uncultured, adults do not use lewd expressions especially at formal gatherings. However, the exchange of “sexually tinged banter” (as Mahmud Jega, my senior colleague in writing would call it) between some “distinguished” guests at the Trust Dialogue of Thursday 21st January 2010 puts Nadel’s theory on trial. It was a day on which the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton became a theater of some barefaced comedians. The rule in Nadel’s theory, on that day, seemed to have disproved itself against the exception.
A public gathering, a formal one like the Trust Dialogue for that matter, is certainly not the best place for shaggy-dog-stories from “leaders”. It is not part of humor when hyper-banters take the place of inspirational speeches expected from dignitaries at a public function. It all began when Chief Obasanjo in his opening address remarked that his landmark visit to apartheid South Africa in 1986 during which himself and other members of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group met with Mrs. Winnie Mandela who gave them a deep insight in to the situation in South Africa at that time. When Mrs. Mandela rose to deliver her speech, she first appreciated Obasanjo’s comments but added that he (Obasanjo) forgot to mention that he passed the night in her house. This expectedly resulted into a burst of laughter from the audience. To “entertain” the audience further, Chief Obasanjo quickly grabbed the microphone and added, “It was a very enjoyable night”. Of course, such a naked banter coming from Obasanjo was bound to sustain a prolonged laughter in the audience. At the end of the “show”, Mrs. Winnie Mandela in the attempt to help Obasanjo or herself or both out of the ridicule, said “Yes, he slept in the guest room”.
Hajiya Naja’atu Mohammed, a woman activist, also contributed her quota to the receptacle of hyper-locutions. In her speech at the occasion, she disclosed that she had to physically (not metaphorically) back a governor during one of the political campaign rallies. This column believes that such a “dirty’ story was indecent to be relayed to that distinguished audience. Such a narration at a public function especially coming from a Muslim Woman is viewed as unfortunate. We wonder at the downbeat impact of such a story on our youths and children who were or might be privileged to listen to her speech on a television channel.
Given the brand of his own chitchats, Talban-Minna was perhaps the main character in the hyper-speech drama at the Transcorp Hilton. He was so engrossed in the euphoria of the dissipated hyper-jokes that he went in to introducing some guests at the occasion including my elder brother, Mohammed Haruna; a job we thought the master of ceremony would have done better. The Chief Servant of Niger state sought the permission of Chief Obasanjo to say what he considered embarrassing to the latter saying “With your permission sir, I want to embarrass you…”. The import of this is that if Obasanjo granted the permission, it would not matter even if what he was going to say sounded offensive to the sensitivity of the large crowd of audience at the occasion. After securing the go-ahead, Talban-Minna said, “It’s better to be a womanizer than to be a homosexual”. No matter how best his intentions were, such a statement sought to legalize the prohibited, which Muslim jurists call “Tahlil ul-Haram”. Further in his stage show, Talban-Minna asked “Hajiya” Naja’atu to clarify to the audience at what age she backed the governor!
We hope Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu and other irreverent speakers at the Trust Dialogue are aware that, as leaders, their speeches in public and private life mean a lot to their listeners. That which we remember of our conduct is sometimes ignored even by our closest neighbor; but that which we have forgotten having said most often remains in people’s memory for the longest period. Muslim relates on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (SAW) said, “Let whosoever believe in Allah and in the Last Day speak good or be silent…”. Let us remember that under every speech that is devoid of moral taste lies a silence that is better. May Allah (SWT) guide us to know that while silence is as deep as eternity, speech may be as shallow as time, amin.