Ohimai Godwin-Amaize, Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to the Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has come under heavy criticism for claiming that the German national football team fought like Adolf Hitler in their 7-1World Cup semi-final victory over Brazil.
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.
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.
“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.”
The use of the expression and its accompanying traditional salute is currently a criminal offence in some European countries, including Germany, Czech Republic and Austria.
Godwin-Amaize was accused of propagating Nazi ideology in what many Nigerians described as distasteful and uncalled for especially when it was coming from a political appointee.
Following the angry backlash from Nigerians, the embattled ministerial aide moved to save his face by deleting the post from his Twitter account.
However, it appeared that the deed had already been done as the move further attracted angry reactions from avid users of the social network.
A Nigerian based in the United Kingdom, Tola Fidler, said she was disappointed in Godwin-Amaize and called for his employers to severely reprimand him for the untoward behaviour.
“I can’t believe that ‘Hail Hitler’ tweet came from Godwin-Amaize. That is what you call trampling on the memories of the innocent victims of Hitler.
“That tweet would get you sacked from your job, ousted by your party and live to regret the thoughts; but Nigerians get away with anything,” she wrote on her Twitter page.
A medical doctor, Chijioke Kaduru, chided Godwin-Amaize for being “culturally insensitive and inhumane”, adding that such an utterance was unacceptable in public space.
According to Kaduru, people who have some forms of influence on social media should strive to be “educated” and refrain from exhibiting “callousness and ignorance” on public forums.
Godwin-Amaize, he argued, should be ashamed of himself for making such a statement in present day 2014.
The medical practitioner stated that both Germans and Austrians mostly hate discussions centered on the Holocaust noting that they are always apologetic about the catastrophe.
He tweeted, “It is just really horrible when I see people spewing such garbage in public. For people who are part of a digital age, it is so important that we recognise the need to be careful with our utterances. Such utterances showcase ignorance of the highest level.
“I remember delivering a leadership training in Sardinia (an autonomous region of Italy) using Adolf Hitler to provide context about leadership. It was so difficult. I had people whose families had lived the holocaust in the audience.
“I spent half the workshop apologising about the choice of the leader. Not because Hitler did not lead, but because it was a sensitive issue. That is the cross of life in a public space, which thanks to social media is now a cross for all of us.
“We are young, but we must not be stupid and un-cultured. We must not strive to be inappropriate, as if there are points for it. I know a few people who speak so highly of this young man (Godwin-Amaize). I do not have much regard for him and after last night, I am sure of why.”
Prolific Twitter user, Tolu Ogunlesi, said it was unfortunate that a person in the mould of Godwin-Amaize was being maintained with tax payers’ money.
“He is a Special Assistant in the Nigerian Government; a government unfortunate to have employed him. Last week I asked him if he was Goebbels. Last night (Wednesday) he gave me an answer; repeatedly tweeting tributes to Adolf Hitler,” Ogunlesi tweeted.
But Obanikoro’s adviser later took to his Twitter page, apologising for the utterances. He, however, lamented that some online activists who had scores to settle with him were unfairly criticising him in a bid to profit from his “tragedy and misfortune.”
He stated that as an employee of a minister, he was unduly being intimidated by those he accused of singling him out for criticism.
“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.
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