SIR: There is no doubt that Aminu Mohammmed Adamu, the student who twitted an offensive message against First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari, has regretted his action. In the photographs taken after his release, he appeared contrite, sober, and seemingly innocent, like someone in whose mouth butter would not melt. Who could have imagined that such a frail-looking, individual could be firing dirty shot at the First Lady?
Many people have called out the Mrs. Buhari for pressing charges against him. Many described her actions as tantamount to “intimidation and oppression’’. The point is – we should never indulge wrongdoing whether coming from small or big person because to do so is to foster it.
Why do we have rules and regulations in a society to guide our behaviour? If everyone were to behave according to his/her whims and caprices, then society would run riot; chaos, confusion would ensue and it would be survival of the fittest so to speak and the society itself would eventually fall apart, disintegrate.
Aminu Mohammed is a case of a modern-day young adult who views this digital era as an opportunity to spew excrescences in the social media without regard to fundamental decency. For such people, nothing is sacred and they are no respecter of cultural values. You may not like the face of someone occupying a public position, but decency demands that you respect the office, not necessarily the person.
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Mrs. Buhari, wife of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not Aminu Mohammed’s age mate; she is old enough to be her mother; in fact she has a son that is older than him. Aminu Mohammed broke our time-honoured cultural values, coarsely dismantled long standing age barriers to haul vile at Hajia Buhari. And there was no disguising who she was directing his message to because she placed Mrs. Buhari’s photo beside his offensive tweet, unlike cartoonists who, when aiming a dig at someone, draw a caricature of the subject of their jibe.
People say that those in authority should have a thick skin for criticism. Yes. But the criticism should be objective, constructive, not to denigrate and to fetch public opprobrium. Any criticism that verges on slander, character defamation has crossed the red line. We should bear in mind that every public figure no matter how highly placed is first and foremost a human being. Anything that impugns on another human being’s integrity is evil.
Now that Mrs Buhari has dropped all charges against him and is thus reunited with his family, he must have learnt his lessons. Aminu can be enlisted as an ambassador in the fight against cyber stalking, cyber bullying, fake news and character assassination by social media buffs, to teach unenlightened, ignorant youths who think life is one-way traffic where anything goes without repercussions.
- Victoria Ngozi Ikeano,
Lafia, Nasarawa State.