BUHARI’S POST-G7 SUMMIT SPEECH JOLTS SOCIAL MEDIA USERS -Punch

Some Nigerians, especially social media users on Friday reacted to the discovery of an error in a speech by President Muhammadu Buhari while briefing journalists in Abuja on his arrival from G7 summit in Germany on Tuesday.
Buhari had referred to the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, as “President Michelle of West Germany.”
He had said, “I was personally invited by G7. I went there and I was asked to brief the G7, and I was impressed with the tremendous sympathy for the sub-region, the Lake Chad Basin Commission. Their humanitarian approach to the issue to say the least is very impressive and all of them, not only in Europe; from President Obama to the Chairman of G7, President Michelle of West Germany, and French President, they are all willing to help us.”

In a telephone conversation with foremost economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, said the President could make mistakes, adding that such an error was not a big deal.
He said, “I like to compare that kind of slip to Ronald Regan’s tenure as US President. He was often forgetting stuffs, but it didn’t stop him from doing a great job in the US. So, it’s not a big deal.”
Also, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said it was only the enemies of the country that would play up on such.

“Our national dignity should make us not to play up on such. It can happen to anybody,” he said.
In his view, a professor of Political Science and International Relations, University of Lagos, Prof. Solomon Akinboye, said nobody is above mistake.
He said, “It could be a slip of tongue and I don’t think it’s deliberate. He is a human being. But it means people are watching him, and that means he should always prepare himself, especially when he is having such an engagement.”
But a public commentator and lawyer, Mr. Liborous Oshoma, said Nigerians were aware of his educational background but chose to ignore it when they voted for him.
He said, “If you look at the requirements to be a president in Nigeria, it is like a school certificate or its equivalent. So, when you have such requirement for such a position, you don’t expect to have a leader that would talk like a professor or an Obama. Even during campaigns, there were mistakes by the President, but Nigerians ignored them.”