EBERE WABARA

“Man killed in car accident” Why not ’’Man dies in car accident?’’ He was not killed!

“Nigerian loses his life (dies) in a ghastly auto crash in Greece.” It was a fatal (not ghastly) accident.

“President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, expressed sadness over the sporadic violent protest (protests)….”

The next headline blunder is from last week’s edition of this medium: “Police arrest four over Maiduguri explosion” Do we arrest the entire editorial team for (not over) lexical recklessness?

“Bribery enthrones mediocrity and crucify merit.” (Source: as above) The Tabernacle of bribery crucifies merit.

“Gang up against Buhari will fail” Phrasal verb: gang up; noun: gang-up (which applies here).

“We were treated to another similar incidence.…” All newspapers should know the difference between ‘incidence’ and ‘incident’ (which is the correct etymology here).

“Although the governor’s last minute romance with the main opposition party is held against him.…” Saturday People: last-minute (take note of the hyphen) romance….

“Thus, a core investor…with regards to optimal use of the machinery.…” Either: as regards or with regard to….

“In the heydays of the goggled General when fuel was often unavailable.…” Stranglehold of oil workers: heyday (uncountable).

“Last year, many houses of the Igbo in Ajegunle, a suburb of Lagos, were razed down.…” No word abuse: simply razed (not razed down). Discard the contrary views by some registers!

Yet another headline gaffe: “Restrictions on inter-bank foreign exchange trading is (are) killing the market.”