For several weeks, one topic was trending on social media platforms, and on forums such as Nairaland, there are hundreds of pages filled with comments from both sides of the aisle over the academic qualifications of the candidate of the opposition party in the forthcoming general elections Gen Muhammadu Buhari.
Some of these comments are hilarious, some just showed Nigerians are curious to know about the authenticity of the general’s claims. But since the decision of the general to make the document public, the attention has now been shifted to the PDP’s camp as several Nigerians including the founder of PIN Initiative, ‘Gbenga Sesan are asking Nigeria’s president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to make public his PhD thesis and other documents and publications to really confirm he bagged a PhD as widely believed.
Even though some of the posts so far were sponsored directly and indirectly by the opposition, the fact that lots of Nigerians without political affiliations took to social media to add their voices to the dialogue is another attestation to the pluripotent, multidimensional and very powerful nature of social media in influencing national dialogues, especially in Nigeria.
The #BringBackOurGirls campaign is a good example of such social media campaign that originated in Nigeria and got global attention reaching as far as The WhiteHouse yet very few Nigerians are taking it seriously.
Conversations are still scattered, uncoordinated and extensively casual. Serious matters are discussed ‘unseriously’ – no one takes them serious. But while the attention is on the ballot box and who occupies Aso Rock Presidential Villa from May 29, Nigerians can accept the fact that the leaders that were once unreachable and inaccessible actually respond to tweets and if they could get the leaders to present their certificates, with similar vigour, commitment, consistency and passion, they can actually get them to respond to critical national issues that affects everyone.
