25th July, 2019
By Jennifer Okundia
In the 21st century, social media has become the court of law where people now go to air their grievances and seek redress. This is sometimes for the good while in other cases might turn out to disfavour the person involved. Some years back, it didn’t use to be this way, as people settled whatever issues they had offline without bringing it to the open.
There has been countless cases where individuals spoke up against an ill in the country, celebrities and other well meaning Nigerians also joined by lending their voices to promote such causes which eventually brought about positive change.
Ranging from when a viral picture of a baby whose face had just been mutilated went viral, Nigerians kicked against it with their different social platforms and senator Dino Melaye threw his weight behind this quest which finally scaled through second reading on the floor of the Senate.
Other cases are rape accusations by Busola Dakolo leveled on pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo which is still trending and many more including poor government policies, where concerned citizens speak up and progress is in someway made.
Late Afrobeats legend and human rights activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti was one dogged musician who used his craft as a platform to speak against corrupt leaders and policies affecting the society at the time.
Nigerian comedian I Go Dye says those saying people speaking up on social media are noise makers should take a cue from Fela, who although wasn’t from a poor family still used his voice to champion a revolt against bad government, and that people should learn to lend their voices to bring about positive outcome.
The comic act further said ”We can’t make progress as a nation if all we do is remain silent and take up arms as the only means of expressing our displeasure on certain issues against government, Words are powerful and there is nothing compared to the strength of collectively speaking against injustice or promoting the success of others in good faith”.
Read his message below:
“FOR THOSE WHO THINK PEOPLE MAKE NOISE ON SOCIAL MEDIA YOU ARE WRONG. Social media is means of mass communication that has given hope and caused uprising in many countries . It has created a means of protest to many issues, generating attention and mediums of social change and revolt against government, helping those who have oppressed to be heard.You may not believe in the out cry on social media, but I can gladly tell you that it has liberated many people and it’s the most formidable means of speaking and reaching out to the larger society in this 21st century. We can’t make progress as a nation if all we do is remain silent and take up arms as the only means of expressing our displeasure on certain issues against government.
Please try and lend your voice to any issue with positive outcome, instead of looking for easy means to castigate those whose voice of reason have impacted the course of a change. To further bring to your notice, the likes of Fela had no reason to speak against government at the time he did, because he wasn’t from a poor home, but he spoke against many people and government policies, which really changed a lot of issues.
I thank all the bloggers in Nigeria especially you for using your social media platforms for positive change. Words are powerful and there is nothing compared to the strength of collectively speaking against injustice or promoting the success of others in good faith. From Amb Francis Agoda logic and reason without guns“
Fela was born on 15 October 1938 in Abeokuta into an upper-middle-class family. His mother, Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement while his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, an Anglican minister and school principal, was the first president of the Nigeria Union of Teachers.
His brothers Beko Ransome-Kuti and Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, both medical doctors, are well-known in Nigeria. He is also a first cousin to Nigerian writer and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.