President Nana Akufo-Addo has made a remark on the trending birthday tweet he sent across to Dance Hall musician, Shatta Wale last Tuesday.
Recall that Shatta Wale who was born Charles Nii Amah Mensah on 17th October, 1984, turned 33 on Tuesday, October 17, 2017. The Dance Hall King was lucky enough to get what we tagged “a presidential recognition” on his birthday.
Not only was the recognition presidential, it was so informal and down to earth that it caught the attention of the media, including foreign ones such as BBC! Let’s refresh our memories a bit on what transpired.
It started as a simple twitter request from Shatta Wale to President Akufo-Addo on Friday, October 13. In his usual care-free manner, the self-acclaimed Dance Hall King told President Nana Addo that Tuesday, October 17 will be his birthday, asking the President what he will be expecting from him. He wrote:
“Your excellency tuesday is my birthday ..what are you giving me ..@NAkufoAddo”
Shatta Wale may not have known that the his tweet has been noted by the first citizen of Ghana, and so the musician was extremely excited to receive a birthday wish from the President on his day.
Also See: “I am a Big fan of Shatta Wale” – Nana Addo
Nana Addo had taken to his official twitter handle that Tuesday evening to wish Shatta Wale happy birthday and also suggest a visit to the Flagstaff House. What however, drew the most attention to the President’s birthday tweet to Shatta was its informal nature – he used pidgin.
“Happy birthday @shattawalegh! You for come visit me for Flagstaff House o!”
Shatta Wale who was highly elated by the President’s gesture and care-free tone, quickly responded to the message saying:
Wale didn’t stop there. He tweeted again saying:
He finally thanked President Nana Addo and said he will follow due protocols to pay him a visit soon, adding that he will be expecting to receive a land cruiser.
“Thank you your Excellency. I will follow the necessary procedures and pay a visit soon Mr. President. I hope my land cruiser will be ready.”
Meanwhile, it never occurred to President Nana Addo that his birthday tweet to Shatta will go viral with the speed of a wild fire, neither did he know that his pidgin language will earn him some backlashes. Many criticized the President for using informal language on an official platform.
However, talking about the power of computers and the social media at the National Cyber Security Week held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) today [Monday], Nana Addo highlighted the issue of the viral tweet, expressing utter surprise at the fact that it made a buzz.
“…I’m no less intrigued that I have over 400,000 friends [and] followers and a recent tweet wishing Shatta Wale happy birthday in pidgin would go viral,” President Akufo-Addo said. “The cars that we drive today are more computers on wheels that the mechanical beasts we used to drive,” he added.
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