The X (formerly known as Twitter) handles of the Special Adviser on Public Communication to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga and that of the Senior Special Assistant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu became a theater for hot exchanges over grammatical error and corrections.
The drama ensued after Onanuga, through his X handle @aoanuga1956, made a reaction to the reported incident of vandalism on the rehabilitation work on the Ilesha-Ibadan Expressway.
The presidential adviser had furiously responded to the story, asking that the vandals wrecking havoc on public infrastructure should, according to him, be shot at sight.
“Just shoot these unconscionable vandals/thieves at sight. They are worst species of citizenships,” Onanuga said in a tweet posted at 8:09 am on Sunday.
Few hours after the post, Shaibu replied to it through his handle, @phrankangel at 1:43 pm, dismissing the remarks by Onanuga as, “lawlessness.”
Shaibu post reads thus: “As a government spokesman, you cannot call for citizens to be “shot at sight.” That is not law enforcement, it is lawlessness. Anyone who talks like this has no business in public office.
“Nigeria is not a killing field. Crimes are handled through arrest, investigation and the courts – not instant death orders from reckless statements.
“Today it is “vandals.” Tomorrow it could be protesters, critics, or anyone who disagrees. Honestly, this is worrying. I just hope you haven’t joined the smoking gang.”
But later in the night of the same day, Shaibu returned to the post like a beast not yet done with the kill. This time round, he called out the presidential spokesperson for committing a grammatical blunder on his post.
The Atiku’s aide pointed the error of grammar in Onanuga’s “Shoot at Sight” post at 9:37 pm, claiming that the appropriate grammatical expression was supposed to be “Shoot on Sight”.
But early in the morning of the following day, today, at 9:12 am Onanuga went back to the post in an attempt to safe the situation, replying Shaibu, saying: “Foolish boy. Both usages are correct. Upgrade your grammar.”
Shaibu also swiftly replied with what could pass as a lecture on the English Language, saying: “As a teacher, I will not answer insult with insult. I am here to teach you, not to bully you; I was not trained that way. Teaching demands restraint, for it is like carrying a tray of filled glasses on a crowded bus – one careless move, and everything spills.
“Now to the issue at hand: “shoot on sight” is a fixed idiom. Fixed idioms are not open to distortion or creative rearrangement. Neither you nor your principal has the poetic, literary, or presidential licence to tamper with them.
“Shoot at sight” like “you cannot eat your cake and have it,” “more grease to your elbow,” “first come, first serve,” or “crack your brain,” is a manifestation of weak heads. These are errors, not stylistic variants.
“It therefore smacks of wretched illiteracy to argue that such expressions can be used interchangeably. For clarity going forward, I recommend Brighter Grammar (Books 1-3).”
The exchanges between the two senior media managers to Nigeria’s top political rivals – Tinubu and Atiku – ended as at press time without Onanuga replying to the elucidations on the use of the English Language by Shaibu.
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