Minister-designate for Ogun State, Dr Bosun Tijani, has apologised to the Nigerian Senate over his past unpatriotic and derogatory tweets against Senators and the Nigerian nation.
Dr Tijani, an Information and Communication Technology, ICT professional, made the apology while fielding questions from Senators during his screening for the position of Minister on Saturday.
Senator AbdulFatai Buhari had taken Tijani up on some unpatriotic 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.
Senator Buhari, while visiting Tijani’s past comments on social media, 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 has faith in Nigeria and the country’s passport.
In his response, 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.
Thereafter, the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, described Tijani as an “EndSARS protester,” revealing that his daughter also protested police brutality and extrajudicial killings in October 2020.
According to him, Dr 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 harmonise their ideas for the betterment of the country.
Senator Bamidele asked youths to learn from Tijani’s situation and thereafter urged his colleagues to forgive the nominee.
Following the intervention of the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, the nominee subsequently apologised for his non-patriotic tweets and Akpabio on behalf of the Senate accepted his apology.
“We are all fathers and we cannot throw the baby away with the bath water…On behalf of the Senate, I want to accept your apology,” Akpabio intervened and asked Tijani to take a bow.
