Social media turns ‘playground’ for past office-holders

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In today’s technologically advanced world, social media is fast becoming the most preferred platform for people from all walks of life to freely express their views and opinions.

Here in Nigeria, the situation is no different. However, more past political office holders,  who were hitherto known faces on the orthodox media, appear to be taking refuge in social media.

Though they have since left the corridors of power and their popularity may have dwindled offline, their social media following appears to be skyrocketing as the day passes by.

A check on major social networking sites shows that a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir el-Rufai, commands one of the highest following on major social media sites,  among former political office holders.

El-Rufai has integrated the platforms to air his views on the Nigerian polity. On Twitter, he commands a following of over 195,000 users and makes use of the platform to engage a few serving public office holders who have a presence on the social network. On Facebook, some 217,000 people also subscribe to his status updates which are majorly political.

However, his social media involvement has not gone without some negatives. El-Rufai sparked an outrage in January when he re-tweeted a sarcastic post aimed at the Presidency. Many Nigerians,  including his followers,  especially Christians, took offence at it.

A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,  Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, is also not missing in action on the new media. The Twitter handle of the former presidential candidate has garnered a followership of a little above 75, 000 users of the micro-blogging service.

Ribadu, a member of the newly registered All Progressives Congress, has been urging his followers to get involved in the party.  When the news of the registration of the party broke on July 31, Ribadu tweeted, “Victory for democracy, victory for Nigerians yearning for change. Congratulations, the APC family.’’

However, ever since the APC came on board, Ribadu has been consistently receiving questions from his followers seeking to know about his ambition to vie for the Presidency in 2015.

He has also used the social media to tackle the Goodluck Jonathan administration on the need to show serious commitment in fighting corruption and financial crimes via his social media accounts. His Facebook page where he also holds conversations with his well wishers boasts a following of over 229, 000.

A one-time Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has 58,000 Twitter users subscribing to her tweets, which dwell majorly on governance and public policy. Of late,  she has assumed a fiercer critic of the Jonathan administration.  She also clashed with her former cabinet colleague,  Chief Femi Fani-Kayode,  over the latter’s article which she deemed insulting to the Igbo.

Ezekwesili,  who describes herself as a “fiercely passionate believer in the public good of nations’’,  literally spent the whole day on Twitter on August 13, when she engaged Fani-Kayode in a war of words over the said controversial article.

She sent out 47 tweets,  including those she directed at the Presidential Adviser on New Media, Reno Omokri, who she described as disrespectful.

The Turakin Adamawa and former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, began his sojourn on Twitter on September 11, 2010. In recent times, he has regularly took to his Twitter handle to condemn the violent attacks by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, while also urging government to do more to end the “inexcusable murders.’’

When suspected members of the sect killed some 29 pupils in a school attack in Yobe, Atiku tweeted, “We must dedicate resources to intelligence gathering and mediation. Military force alone can’t solve the problem.’’

Fani-Kayode who once held sway as Minister of Aviation, frequently create a buzz on the Nigerian social media space, stirring up debates on sex-related issues.  Despite the controversial nature he exudes on the social media, he commands a decent following of a combined 46, 000 people on Twitter and Facebook.