Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri and poet, Lola Shoneyin on Thursday tore into each other over death threat directed at popular journalist, Kadaria Ahmed by a Twitter user, Abdulrahman Yahaya whose Twitter handle is @cardinalabdul.
Yahaya’s tweet attracted condemnation from many Nigerians, including Omokri.
Taking to his verified Twitter handle, Omokri, a former Special Assistant on New Media to President Jonathan, wrote:
“Dear Twitter, Take action against @cardinalabdul for threatening a beloved Nigerian, @KadariaAhmed for converting to Christianity. Men like him have made Nigeria the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian. Please retweet #KeepKadariaSafe until Twitter takes action”
He added a screenshot of Yahaya’s tweet, which has since been deleted.
See Omokri’s tweet:
Dear @Twitter,
Take action against @cardinalabdul for threatening a beloved Nigerian, @KadariaAhmed for converting to Christianity. Men like him have made Nigeria the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian. Please retweet #KeepKadariaSafe until Twitter takes action pic.twitter.com/UmVfB2hgrQ
— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) April 11, 2019
However, Shoneyin, who is a daughter-in-law of Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, took exception to Omokri’s way of conveying his message.
According to her, Omokri was using the situation to push a political agenda.
She wrote: “If anything happens to @KadariaAhmed, it makes sense to hold @renoomokri responsible. Please don’t use this issues to push a political agenda and cause further chaos. YOU are helping to spread lies. KADARIA DID NOT CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY.”
See her tweet:
If anything happens to @KadariaAhmed, it makes sense to hold @renoomokri responsible. Please don't use this issues to push a political agenda and cause further chaos. YOU are helping to spread lies.
KADARIA DID NOT CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY. 🤦🏾♀️ https://t.co/Qdasxo2sRa
— Lọlá Shónẹ́yìn (@lolashoneyin) April 11, 2019
Omokri however took aim at Shoneyin for calling him.
See his reply:
Dear @lolashoneyin,
It may very well be that English comprehension is your problem. I never said @KadariaAhmed converted to Christianity. I said that she was THREATENED with death FOR converting to Christianity in a tweet I attached. Thank you. God blesshttps://t.co/3v7mwE7Icq
— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) April 11, 2019
Dear @lolashoneyin,
You falsely accuse me, and then go on to murder the English language. You claim to be a writer who has British heritage, yet write 'use this issues'. Learn the difference between 'this' and 'these' before making false allegations.https://t.co/3v7mwE7Icq
— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) April 11, 2019