Derogatory Tweets: Ogun Ministerial Nominee, Tijani Apologises To Senate

Ministerial nominee for Ogun State, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has apologized to the Senate over his past unpatriotic and derogatory tweets against Senators and Nigeria as a nation.

Tijani, an Information and Communication Technology, ICT professional, made the apology while fielding questions from Senators during the ministerial screening.

Senator AbdulFatai Buhari representing Oyo North had taken Tijani up on some non-patriotic tweets he posted about four years ago, which the lawmaker found embarrassing and unbefitting of a personality that would occupy a public office in Nigeria.

Visiting Tijani’s past comments on social media, the lawmaker said: “On the 21st of July 2019, Dr. Bosun tweeted against Nigeria that he does not appreciate the Nigerian passport and Nigeria as a nation,” asking the nominee to clarify whether he still believed in Nigeria and the country’s passport.

Responding to the questions, the 46-year-old Tijani, said that he was very passionate about Nigeria and was committed to the country’s development, explaining that he made the offensive tweets as a result of a frustrating experience he had with the Chinese Embassy.

However, Senator Elisha Ishaku Abbo representing Adamawa North seeing that the nominee was also going to face more bombardments from other Senators, quickly rose to Tijani’s defense, saying that the nominee tweeted out of a mixture of frustration and love for Nigeria.

Also, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC Ogun West) lent his voice in defense of the nominee, who is from his state, requesting that his “youthful exuberance” and “shortcoming” should be forgiven.

Senator Adeola, who chided the nominee, said Tijani has what it takes to use his skills to develop Nigeria’s IT industry, pleading that “the baby should not be thrown away with the bath water.”

Not yet done with Tijani, the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Simon Mwadkwon (PDP Plateau North), read another “non-patriotic” tweet by Tijani which was posted sometimes in 2021.

This time around, the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC Ekiti Central), described Tijani as an “EndSARS protester”, revealing that his daughter also protested police brutality and extrajudicial killings in October 2020.

He said Tijani was trying to speak for his generation and should not be haunted by the tweet, pointing out that President Bola Tinubu wants to work with young people like Tijani to bring and harmonize their ideas for the betterment of the country.

With the intervention of the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, the nominee subsequently apologized for his non-patriotic tweets and Akpabio said that his apology was accepted.

James Itodo, Edited By Grace Namiji