Gumsu,
one of the daughters of the late maximum ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha, has
taken to Twitter to snarl abuse at Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka.
She
described the iconic writer as an “empty professor”, accusing him of
assuming the role of a critic in the Nigerian polity because of
financial gains.
Though the reason
behind the Twitter rant could not be ascertained as at the time of
filing this report, her earlier message in a tweet had stated, “Do the
thing you fear the most. If there’s one thing that will change your
thoughts quicker than anything else, it’s facing your fears.”
However,
no sooner had she posted the tweet than a barrage of criticisms started
trailing her comment. The first set of criticisms came from some of her
fans on the social network.
One Sal
Adeleke, tweeting via @HAJMAJA, said, “Look, if you bring in Soyinka,
people might get offended and start insulting your family. I wouldn’t
like that to happen for a reason. Please, don’t get involved in this
game. It seems you have transformed to something else since the release
of Al-Mustapha. What’s going on?’’
But
just as Adeleke predicted, a floodgate of criticism was unleashed on
Gumsu by many Nigerians who deemed her action as an utter disrespect to
the person and standing of Soyinka.
Many
viewed the attack as a wild and extremely rude show of disrespect while
others described her effrontery as “shameless boldness.’’ Some accused
Gumsu of not having responsible adults in her family, with many others
urging her to return the money his father looted before coming out to
comment on national issues.
A
Twitter user, Sam Adebayo, tweeting via @olujiire, said, “Do you set
yourself on memory lane to remember how your father died? I bet you
don’t have elders in your household.’’
Another
user of the micro-blogging service, Paul, explained that he is still at
a loss as to how a daughter of a renowned ‘thief’ would describe
Soyinka as an “empty professor.’’
He said, “Imagine , the daughter of a thief, referring to a renowned Prof Wole Soyinka as a mad empty professor.I wonder!’’
Lending
a voice to the criticism, Nigeria’s online hacking group,
NaijaCyberHactivists, tweeting via @NaijaCyberHack, said, “It is
unfortunate that a family like yours (Gumsu) still comment on issues in
this country. A family that defines all what shame connotes.’’
A member of the popular online forum, nairaland.com,
with the name, Phull said, “What did your Father Abacha amount to in
this life with all the stolen billions and hundreds of murdered
Nigerians? What have you as a person achieved in your pathetic
existence?
“Professor Wole Soyinka
is one of the brightest lights from Nigeria and Africa, on his own merit
alone! This is a man who was at one point or the other Professor at
Harvard, Cornell, with Honorary Doctorate degrees from Leeds, Harvard,
and Princeton.
“In case you don’t
know, these are not the schools where ‘thieves’ are awarded phoney
Honoris Causa. In fact, no one in your generation would be considered
worthy of admission even into any of these universities for you are so
dull, you have absolutely no brains that can be educated!’’
Threading
softly with Gumsu, one Thomas George asked, “Gumsu, what has Prof
Soyinka done to deserve this tongue lashing? He is a Nigerian icon, in
this time of very few of his type, you know.’’
One
Shehu Muhammad-Bello said on Twitter that Gumsu’s attack on Soyinka
could be a desperate attempt by her to get favour and attention from the
wife of the President, Patience Jonathan, as the latter recently took a
swipe at the Nobel laureate.
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