When is a door not a door? When it is ajar. And if you are sitting at the entrance verandah of former governor M A`s living room and the entrance door is not a door but ajar, you can just hear some murmurings from within lamenting that the August rains have finally exposed that the quality of work done on the CBN Roundabout-Federal Lowcost-Railway road is very poor.
The running rain waters have opened the way it was given through poor quality work. And that is what water does. If you fail to define its path with quality work, it will open one for itself by breaking the poorly done work.
Now, let us all encapsulate that those who cannot respond to the substance of a statement because they have no superior argument are those who lay more emphasis on the correctness of its grammar rather than its content. And so it was with former M A`s aide Doji Doji.
When I, few days ago, posted on Facebook, pictures showing how rain waters have finally destroyed the poorly constructed CBN Roundabout-Federal Lowcost-Railway road, he rather than give reasons, if there is any, as to why the section of the road got destroyed by the running waters, decided to one, politicize the matter even when it is about good governance and two, lay emphasis on the correctness of my grammar.
I am not really disturbed that he politicized the matter, I am however devastated that as a graduate, he went on to generalize even when we know that there is nowhere anywhere where we should generalize because obviously there are exceptions. Hear him: “When they want to criticize him they say: “Barr MA didn’t construct one kilometer of road” and now that the story is different they are saying that he built.”
While I do not intend to lay much emphasis on the fact that his statement was shorn and bereft of punctuation marks, I want to note that he said it most probably because he doesn’t know that I don’t belong to the “they” category he referred to. And as such any response to my post should not tilt towards the “they” category.
And on the politics of it, I want to say in bold terms that I have never believed that there is any leader who has ever done nothing but of course there are many who have performed below average. More so, I have never said that “MA didn’t build a one kilometer road.” But I have said that he has built several poor quality roads which eventually must be revisited sooner than later.
Another example is the Jos-Maiduguri bye-pass road. One, it hasn’t been completed – a sign of poor project management skills. And two, the sections of the road that have been poorly constructed will certainly be revisited sooner than later for reconstruction.
And now to the correctness of my grammar. Let me first say without any fear of contradiction that most of those who come to Zuckerville to correct our English grammar are those who by and large do not know it. Because those who know it care a little about making corrections when a mistake is made because they hardly want to show that they know it. But the I-Too-Knows (ITKs) will always want to correct you even when they are nowhere anywhere where they can correct you.
For instance, wasn’t it astonishing as to invite the word annoying that days ago, many who cannot write a good informal letter came here to correct Ladan Salihu on a matter that was not far away from typographical error?
Ladan Salihu`s writing skills and oratorical prowess have been known even when most of those who corrected him were not born. But without thanks to the social media, they have got very fake courage to correct him.
And now to my case. With humility, I want to assure Doji Doji and anyone who cares that I passed English Language in my O` Level. And to prove that it wasn’t through malpractice, before I sat for the WAEC/NECO exams, I represented my school in several quiz and essay competitions.
And as to whether or not we won, it is left to he who cares to find out. What I want to emphasize is that we didn’t use Barbarci, Fulfulde, Hausa, Birom, Yoruba or Calabari as medium of communication. We used English Language.
So I used “being built” not because I care a hoot about the correctness of my grammar but because I wanted to send a message. The message was that M. A has gone without completing the road project, of course, due to poor project management skills. And the present government is yet to continue the project because as I learnt, there is a matter before a court which has so much to do with the road construction contract. Meaning, the erstwhile government has gone leaving behind so much dust.
And assuming it was a mistake, there is no problem in me – a learner – making mistake in English Language. I’m learning the language. Or have I ever claimed that I know it? Besides, who English helped? For instance, in what way has English helped M A in delivering democratic dividends to the good people of Bauchi state? We know he can speak. But has it helped him in re-positioning Bauchi state to greater heights? NO!
Jarmajo can be reached through [email protected]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect WikkiTimes’ editorial stance.
