Special
Adviser on Media and Strategy to the Minister of State for Defense, Musiliu
Obanikoro has come under heavy criticism for tweeting “Hail Hitler” after the
German National Football team defected Brazil 7-1 in their semifinal showdown
in the ongoing World Cup.
The
ministerial aide took to Twitter some minutes after the end of the match on
Wednesday night, paying tribute to the fascist regime of the late Austrian-born
German politician and leader of the Nazi Party.
“Hail
Hitler!” Godwin-Amaize tweeted shortly after the match, prompting outrage from
Nigerians on the micro-blogging website. At another time, he wrote, “I repeat,
hail Hitler.”
Funny
he wasn’t the only one to send out similar tweet. A Malaysian member of Parliament,
Bung Mokhtar Radin, paid tribute to Adolf Hitler following Germany’s 7-1 win
over Brazil in the World Cup Semifinal.
Bung
wrote, “Well Done…Bravo…Long Live Hitler…” prompting outrage from the Malaysian
Twitterverse.
The
German ambassador to Malaysia, Holger Michael, also weighted in. “We strongly
reject the distasteful and unacceptable allusion to the fascist regime of Adolf
Hitler,” He told TIME.
However
Bung showed no remorse saying in an interview with the Star. “I don’t know what’s
wrong with people sometimes. Hitler is part of history and the German team
fought like how he did,” he said.
Hitler
was credited to have implemented and executed the Holocaust which led to the
systematic extermination and ethnic cleansing of six million European Jews and
millions of other non-Aryans between 1933 and 1945.
Obanikoro’s
adviser later took to his Twitter page, apologizing for the utterance. He,
however, lamented that some online activists who had scores to settle with him
were unfairly criticizing him in a bid to profit from his “tragedy and
misfortune.”
“Okay,
guys, apologies to all who were offended by that tweet. It was purely in the
metaphoric sense. But nobody can hurt me without my permission.
“Ochlocracy
is a reality people like us must live with. In my adversity they rejoiced, and
gathered themselves together,” he tweeted, quoting partly from the Bible.
..........
Both tweets are certainly of bad taste. People should be careful of what they put out. History is there for everyone to know what Hitler did and attributing German's dexterity on the field to his method of leadership is like chickening what he did to the millions of Jews and saying it's okay. That's an insult not only to the Jews but to the entire human race.
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