With over 200 schoolgirls abducted in April still missing, many Nigerians are outraged that the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag is being adapted as a political slogan for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election.
In one sense, you can understand what the president’s supporters were thinking. The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag, calling for 200 school girls abducted by Boko Haram militants in April, became one of the world’s biggest ever social media campaigns. So why not borrow the slogan for the president’s re-election campaign?
The hashtag #BringBackGoodluck2015 seems to have first been used on Twitter by a group campaigning on behalf of the president. On 30th August, they tweeted: “There is no vacancy in Aso rock [the president’s palace] we want Goodluck Jonathan again #NigeriansDemand #BringBackJonathan2015.” It is unclear whether it has been officially endorsed but it has been widely used on printed banners at campaigning events across the country. [eap_ad_2] But the slogan seems to represent a dramatic misreading of Nigeria’s public mood. The abducted school girls are still held captive, despite repeated promises by the government – and President Jonathan himself – to secure their release. So far, the government has not taken military steps to rescue the girls, arguing that if force is used to rescue them, they may end up being killed by the militants.
There’s now a major backlash against the hashtag, as people have taken to Twitter to label it as insensitive. It has appeared more than 1,500 times in the last 24 hours, and the vast majority been used to criticise the slogan.
“That hashtag is not only inappropriate but it is insultingly silly. And it is bereft of any political tact,” said one. Another said the slogan’s inventor “has the combined IQ of 500 frogs. Why not coin another hashtag?”. “I didn’t realize Boko Haram had kidnapped the President!” said a third.
Japheth Omojuwa, a columnist at Nigerian newspaper Punch, told BBC Trending that he felt the decision to use the slogan was “absurd”.
“They are using variation of our hashtag #BringBackOurGirls to campaign for the president,” he said. “These are people that failed to secure the release of these girls over 150 days since their kidnap.”
Terrorist attacks carried out by Boko Haram are still rife in the country. Research by Amnesty International suggests at least 2,000 people have been killed as a result of the conflict this year. (BBC)[eap_ad_3]
