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FG TO THE ECONOMIST: Your attack on “Change Begins With Me” is racist

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FG TO THE ECONOMIST: Your attack on “Change Begins With Me” is racist
President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has described as unpardonable the criticism by a United Kingdom-based magazine, on its ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign.
The magazine in a report entitled, ”Nigeria’s war against indiscipline, Behave or be whipped” published on September 24, heavily criticised the programme and the Nigerian government.
However, Nigerian government through the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed described The Economist’s comment on the programme as being racist and unpardonable.
“Contrary to the newspaper’s self-professed belief in ”plain language”, the article in question, from the headline to the body, is a master-piece of embellishment or dressed-up language,” said Mr. Mohammed.
“It is loaded with innuendos and decidedly pejorative at best, and downright racist at worst.
“The Economist wrote that President Buhari wants to “tame” Nigerians with the”Change Begins With Me” Campaign. For those who are the owners of the English language, the use of that word is unpardonable, “The verb ”tame” suggests that Nigerians are some kind of wild animals that must be domesticated, and the usage reveals the mind-set of the authors of the article: a deliberate put-down of a whole people under the guise of criticising a government policy,” Mohammed said.
By Ebere Ndukwu …

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