{"id":2000110357,"date":"2026-04-28T16:34:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000110357"},"modified":"2026-04-28T16:40:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:40:47","slug":"president-ruto-clarifies-remarks-on-nigerian-english-after-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/president-ruto-clarifies-remarks-on-nigerian-english-after-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"President Ruto clarifies remarks on Nigerian English after backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Speaking on Tuesday, April 28, during the Mining Investment Conference and Expo in Nairobi, the Kenyan Head of State said his comments were misrepresented and were never intended to demean any country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was recorded when I was speaking to fellow citizens somewhere. It was supposed to be a private conversation, but someone decided that it should be public. But they also misrepresented the facts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruto explained that his remarks were meant to highlight the proficiency of English across African countries, rather than compare or disparage nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe facts are that I was talking about how we in Africa speak very good English. In fact, in some countries like Nigeria, if you don\u2019t speak excellent English like the one we speak in Kenya, you may need a translator for you to understand the excellent English in Nigeria, so that was the comparison, but someone decided to take it out of context,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President further expressed hope that the controversy would not affect relations between Kenya and Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy in-laws, I hope there will be no consequences for whatever was done,\u201d he added, in reference to his family ties with Nigeria. Ruto\u2019s daughter, June Ruto, is married to Nigerian national Alexander Ezenagu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His clarification came moments after Nigeria\u2019s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Henry Dele Alake, addressed the matter in a light-hearted intervention during the same conference, saying Nigerians had \u201cmandated\u201d him to affirm their command of English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people of Nigeria have mandated me to inform you and assure you that Nigerians speak good English,\u201d Alake said, drawing laughter from delegates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Ruto had earlier sparked controversy on Monday, April 23, while addressing Kenyans living in Italy, when he praised Kenya\u2019s education system and English proficiency, contrasting it with Nigeria\u2019s accent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur education is good. Our English is good. We speak some of the best English in the world. If you listen to a Nigerian speaking, you don\u2019t know what they are saying. You need a translator even when they are speaking English,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Kenya and Nigeria use English as an official language, though each country has developed distinct accents shaped by local languages and cultural influences. Online exchanges between citizens of the two countries are often marked by humour, rivalry, and national pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
President Ruto explained that his remarks were meant to highlight the proficiency of English across African countries, rather than compare or disparage nations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President William Ruto has clarified his recent remarks on the English spoken in Nigeria, saying they were taken out of context after triggering widespread criticism across social media in Kenya and Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000110359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[151,99],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000110357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-editors-choice","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000110359,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cca778df-7a7f-49e5-b7b9-89995ca12c8a_President-William-Ruto-og_image.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":944,"height":630,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cca778df-7a7f-49e5-b7b9-89995ca12c8a_President-William-Ruto-og_image.jpg","width":150,"height":100},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cca778df-7a7f-49e5-b7b9-89995ca12c8a_President-William-Ruto-og_image.jpg","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cca778df-7a7f-49e5-b7b9-89995ca12c8a_President-William-Ruto-og_image.jpg","width":768,"height":513},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cca778df-7a7f-49e5-b7b9-89995ca12c8a_President-William-Ruto-og_image.jpg","width":944,"height":630},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cca778df-7a7f-49e5-b7b9-89995ca12c8a_President-William-Ruto-og_image.jpg","width":944,"height":630}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000110357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000110357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000110357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000110360,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000110357\/revisions\/2000110360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000110359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000110357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000110357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000110357"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000110357"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000110357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}