Fatality or Ghastliness?

DAILY INDEPENDENT of April 18 circulated eight solecisms: “Lagos Assembly gives marching order (orders) on standard of public toilets” “Seven staff of a popular hotel along (on) Ozoro-Asaba expressway…were confirmed dead following a ghastly (fatal) motor accident”. There is a clear distinction between both words!

“Oscar Onyema: Two years on (in) the drivers’ (driver’s) seat” “First Bank eye (eyes) more deposits…” The next set of infelicities is from Nigerian Tribune of April 18: “”Kogites are looking up (looking up to) their governor as he seeks…”.

“India set to test long distance (long-distance) missile”

“The untold side of late Godwin Daboh” Back Page: the late Daboh

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE of April 18 rounds it off for the Ibadan-based medium with these two blunders: “It is on record that before the military incursion which distrupted…”. Spell-check: disrupted

“Stakeholders to converge in (on) Huston (sic) to explore new energy opportunities” (THE GUARDIAN, April 18)

“NUBAN: CBN to sanction banks over noncompliant” (THISDAY MONEY GUIDE Banner, April 18) This way: non-compliance

“…the defunct regional governments were able to sustain themselves without petroleum resources or going caps in hand for Federal dole”. States and insolvency: cap in hand (fixed/stock expression).

“When Okopoly students, masquerades went to war” (Daily News Headline, April 17) News Plus: masqueraders

“Nigeria losses (loses) $120bn on agro-allied export—Minister” (Vanguard Headline, April 1)

BUSINESSDAY of April 16 threw up strands of commercialese: “…a situation that is further worsen (worsened) by the high cost of PMS…”.

“…it appears the administration has begun to address the problem of infrastructure (infrastructural) deficit in the state”.

“Four months of heavy air bombardment by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) aimed at weakening…”. ‘Bombardment’ cannot be light! (DAILY INDEPENDENT, April 18)

’10 armed bandits held in Borno” (THE NATION, April 18) This is not news: there is no banditry without arms.

“And that was the point at which politicians opened the floodgate or military incursion into (upon or on) our national politics”. (THE GUARDIAN, April 18)

“Nigerian history is replete with stories of great men who, due to extraneous considerations, found themselves not opportuned to play the role they are best suited”. (Vanguard, April 18) ‘Opportuned’ is un-English. The word does not admit ‘d.’

“Like (As) I said earlier at the beginning of the programme..”. (COOL FM Sound Express, April 18)

“And it is such an appetite that predisposes the officers into (to) scheming for political power”. (National News, April 18)

“You will not fail to shade (shed) tears when the story of the death of...”. (Daily Trust, April 18)

“Apart from the mayhem rival cult members unleash on themselves (on one another)…”. (Leadership, April 17)

“The objective then was to put pressure on the colonialists, shake off colonial mentality, assert the identity of true independence and to instill university culture into (in) members”. (Daily Independent, April 18)

“But while the governor was savouring the euphoria of his new office and putting his acts (act) together for the tasks ahead…”. (The PUNCH, April 18)

“There was a unique feature of that day which I would not have easily overlooked even if others do (did)”. (The Moment, April 18)

“…the same man that was singing Hosanna in the synagogue yesterday had suddenly became (become) a cheer leader among the Ogboni confraternity”. (Source: as above)

“Accusing fingers have been pointed at well-to-do people and the government for not doing enough to curb the activity”. The finger has been pointed at….

“Will the Igbos (the Igbo) be convinced that even with an exclusion of one of their own in the country’s top political leadership…”.

“Indeed, the most endangered specie (species) since movement in the area returned...”.

“…the road to peace in (on) the African continent”.

“And that was manifested in the magnitude of white elephant projects and unexpected contracts that littered the whole place during that era of graft and institutionalized corruption”.

“To get to the point, all the groups concerned must sheath (sheathe) their swords and give peace a chance”.

“Why did INEC obey those injunctions and rulings, knowing fully (full) well that it had the legal powers to ignore them?”

“…the 1999 constitution simply reverted back to the provisions as contained in the 1979 constitution”. When you revert, you don’t need ‘back.’

“The governments though elected in many cases become oppressive, repressive and irresponsible because electorates became helpless in the proper monitoring of those they put in places of authority”. The mystique of June: the electorate.

“The three were obviously having a great time walking almost hand in hand, trading banters over the unfolding drama among humans back on earth”. ‘Banter’ is uncountable. “NSE loses bid for seat in (on) SEC’s board” “It looks like the IMF is demanding for conditions likely to slow down the pace and the exercise”. Yank away ‘for.’ When used as a verb, ‘demand’ does not take ‘for,’ except in the noun form. “Bayelsa commissioners sworn-in (sworn in)”

“Every decision of government is subjected to the magnifying lenses of interest groups that invariably include ethnic and geopolitical gladiators and champions of all manners (manner) of group interests”.

“Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman and Professor ABC Nwosu have (had) earlier been named as special advisers on Petroleum and Political Affairs respectively”.

“The efforts of the police command in identifying the dangerous areas and in alerting the residents is (are) acknowledged”.

“…rather than investigating and finding out who were involved and check against future re-occurrence: Beyond recurrence, can an event yet to take place happen in the past?

“…the university is pointing its accusing fingers in the direction of the lecturers”. True idiom: point a/ the finger. No inclusion of ‘accusing’ or inflection of ‘finger.’

“It is our belief that we members of the alumni association of our Alma Mata have unique roles to play in the restoration of sanity on our university campus”. It is…restoration of sanity to (not on) our campus.

“Isn’t it funny that it is the beak with which a bird builds it’s (sic) nest that it uses to scatter it”. Possessive: its

“…the AU summiteers concentrated almost exclusive (sic) on the political independence and liberation of countries in (on) the continent”.

The above edition of Vanguard also contained two putrid lines: “Monday’s action, which started at dawn, was as a result of the breakdown of series of negotiations…” An agendum: a series of negotiations.

“According to investigations, the deceased was said to be resting alone in his room at about 9.p.m…”. Every reporter should be decisive based on timing which description to use: either at or about. The two cannot co-function.

“According to the source, the institution has a very high percentage of failure in the last academic year”. Reported speech: the institution had (not has).

“… that the authorities of the institution was (were) still waiting the result of the police analysis of the bomb”.

“…in the next three years, its per capital income would have ..”. This way: per capita income.