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…Twitter users describe him as insensitive
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has come under heavy fire from Netizens following a post he made on Twitter announcing that he was participating in a leadership course at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, United States.
The speaker had on Tuesday posted photos of himself receiving lectures at the prestigious university, saying he had gone back to school even at old age.
“Back to class. In a leadership course at
@Harvard
@Kennedy_School
. Forget the number of grey hairs one is never too old to learn, broaden or sharpen your skills,” he tweeted and splashed photographs of himself at the programme.
The show-off came same day the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had declared mass protests across Nigeria over a protracted strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that entered its sixth month this week
As soon as Gbajabiamila announced his presence at Harvard on his twitter handle, angry Nigerian Twitter users responded with a lot of venom, describing him as insensitive, wicked, shameless.
One of the respondents, Philemon Oswald condemned the decision of Gbajabiamila to seek further education abroad at a time ASUU has been on strike for several months and the Federal Government has been unable to resolve the issue.
Another Twitter user, Whitedust @Raw14Real also took to his handle and wrote thus: “There has never been a doubt that those elected to serve the people serve only themselves. On a day the entire country is grounded by solidarity protests with ASUU, you are here posting pictures about educating yourself because you are at Harvard.”
Greatex @ Abigor_Gr8t lamented that Nigerian leaders don’t believe in Nigeria, hence, according to him, “they are busy securing their future abroad,” while telling the poor gullible Nigerians to be patriotic.
Segun Israel @I’m -Segun Israel had this to say:
“Nigerians are responsible for the current leadership problems. This kind of experience won’t stop until we start doing background checks on whoever desires to run for a public office. We should be the ones selecting our representatives, not the other way round.”
Similarly, Kanma Samuel @Musingmusite wrote thus: “These shameless people think having something to do with the educational system outside makes them better than others in this country. So even fools that should work to make the country’s education system better go there to show off shamelessly.”
Ubong Anang @obonguby wrote the following: “Its the level of how insensitive and contempt and lack of regards by our opportunist rulers. Criminals everywhere – young or old, from LG to federal level. Commander of BH occupying Aso Rock as President is not bothered provided his islamization and Fulanization plot is achieved.”
OB@ obekpa-SA also expressed anger at the development. He wrote: “It’s simply a lack of Emotional Intelligence. That, coupled with apathy & an ‘i-don’t-care attitude over the plight of Nigerian students. Just one instance of our Leaders clearly showing they don’t give a damn & there is nothing anyone can do about it.”
In a separate post, Lion of Zingh, another Twitter user observed that Nigerian political leaders often “go to Harvard to boost their resume and ego but fail miserably where common sense is needed,” while
Mr Bond attributed the Speaker’s action as a demonstration of the insensitivity of the APC government in Nigeria.
John Ukagwu @JohnUkagwu simply wrote:
“They don’t have shame at all. You all closed down schools in Nigeria but run abroad to study. If they were on strike like you misfits here in Nigeria, I wonder where you will go to pose for pictures.”
According to Napoli @isholanomic, Gbajabiamila was at Harvard “simply to mock Nigerian students that they re in a failed, bad lands” and described him as a clog to Nigeria’s wheel of progress.
Yahaya Monday @AgidiJnr
Your number 3 man in government hierarchy goes to the Harvard to take a leadership course amidst ASUU strike. That verifies the scary fact that the elites don’t care about you. If they and their children could access quality education in Europe, education in Nigeria can decay!”
Lanre Joda also wrote :
“These guys are illiterate! No truly educated person would do what they do! They lack emotional intelligence! I wonder how they engage Havard lecturers etc in academic conversations! The ability to speak gud grammar isn’t education.”