Chief Press Secretary to Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Mr. Rafiu Ajakaye and his predecessor, who was the Chief Press Secretary to former Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed, Mr. Wahab Oba have taken to social media to fight dirty.
It started when the former spokesperson, Mr. Oba published an article entitled: ‘This Is Not My Governor’, reviewing the current administration.
However, while responding to this article on a Whatsapp platform, Kwaran Forum, Mr. Ajakaye lambasted his predecessor for calling the Governor ‘uneducated’, stating that Mr. Oba can’t write error-free sentences as well.
He said: Without being immodest, many of you who abuse him do not come anywhere close to him in terms of anything — including education that you all tout! Mr. Wahab Oba (I hate to do this because it is not my style to attack my predecessors) wrote about how he expected his Gov to have “good education”. I laughed! Whilst Mr. Oba sought to deride the Governor as uneducated, the same fellow can’t even write error-free sentences. Talk about the healer healing thyself? As I do say to those who served in the past administrations: they should be gone. That we are not constantly hitting them does not mean we lack the energy or the resources to do so. It is out of courtesy and abundance of what to do in fixing our state. Let them not abuse it, pls. They should “be gone”.
Reacting to Ajakaye’s comment, Mr. Oba admitted that he is not a Professor of English Language and mistake-prone, after which he also pointed out some sentences in my Ajakaye’s earlier message, tagging them as blunders.
His comment: Thanks for your response, though without addressing all of the issues raised, except an attack on me.
For the avoidance of doubt, I’m not a professor of English Language, so mistakes can be made, just like these ones in your three paragraphs response:
Recorded of✖️
Recorded ‘for’ this gentleman…
“I was just returning from Kwara State….”, past continuous tense here has been wrongly used. You were just returning means you were still on the journey then.
“I have just returned from….”, a present perfect tense is appropriate.
Works? Works is used in plural form when referring to literary works as well as industries.
“Work” is an uncountable noun and cannot be marked by plural marker ‘S’
“….is also constructing what would be the largest….”. There is no tense agreement between the verbs is and would
‘Will’ is appropriate here, Mr CPS.
“….he has given Kwara its first….”. Why not HER for a country?
“Guess what?”
What question did you ask with that statement?
A question mark is not appropriate there. It is used to an exclamation.
“Guess what!” is appropriate.
“… including education that you all your!”
What’s the need for the exclamation mark?
“I laughed! ….”. why the exclamation mark?
Talk about the healer healing thyself? What question did you ask for the need of the question mark.
There are many more in your other responses on this platform, but, please, let’s not digress unnecessarily.
Responding to this, Mr. Ajakaye said: I laugh in English! Yeah, no one is an island of knowledge. I admit. But. But.
Let’s not go there fah.
- Where do you think I was when I responded to you? That knocked off your supposition about the use of the tense I used. Your position is based on the wrong assumption of where I was at the time. I was responding to you on my way to the office from the stadium.
- Something is said “of you”, so my use of “recorded of” (in relation to history) is appropriate as used.
- See the use of works in relation to engineering. I am in order, sir. 😃
- My use of “would” is also appropriate in the circumstance. Pls see Prof. Frank Palmer (Grammar of English) on the use of “would”.
- My use of “it” is apt. I would be wrong where inconsistency is seen in my use of it/her interchangeably in reference to the entity at issue. Once I stick to use either (it/her), I am home and dry. It is a matter of style.
- Talk of healer healing thyself? It is called rhetorical question, sir. I was asking a rhetorical question.
- There is no one size fits all rule in the use of exclamation mark, sir. It depends on the emphasis you want to place on what you have said, when and where.
What else?? Good evening, Sir.
As for responding to what you wrote, hmmm. There is nothing to respond to. As a matter of fact, that your administration left the premier Gen Hospital without an ICU says a lot. How else do I need to describe the failings of those years?
Please, “be gone”, sir.