So much Bile, Propaganda in the Air By Muhammad K. Ibrahim
POLITICS DIGEST- These are increasingly tense and difficult times for all Nigerians regardless of their ethnicity, religion or creed.
Nigeria being an integrated member of the international community, has not been immune or spared from the downward spiral of the economic fortunes of even the most advanced nations as a direct consequence of the ongoing Russia/Ukraine conflict.
Things are really hard for millions of Nigerians struggling to survive.
The unprecedented inflationary trend across the world has not spared Nigerians either. It has driven goods and services beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians.
Nerves are on edge, compounded by rampant insecurity across the land.
Human life has become unbelievably cheap.
The socially environment is now also fully combustible.
And to make matters worse, we are fast approaching another election year with all its inherent perils.
Politicians are on the prowl, along with their often garrulous supporters eager to feed and take maximum advantage of the deepening frustration in the land by any means necessary.
This is when the nation requires all men of good conscience, to raise up in its defence, by doing all they can to arrest our gradual decent into a Hobbesian state of anarchy.
We must avoid sleepwalking onto the bloodied roads to Rwanda, with stops in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
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There’s so much bile and propaganda in the air, often with scant regard for facts and accuracy of the content crudely distilled as the truth.
There’s an overwhelming tendency among even the most informed Nigerians to act, or be influenced by the falsehood they are regularly fed through the social media.
The tragedy is that most tend to internalise the divisive propaganda for as long as it feeds or appeals to their inner prejudices.
As educated people, we have the compelling responsibility to make a telling difference by exhibiting maximum restraint, and diligence, in the manner we digest or share viral content intended to cause more harm than good.
Sadly, in a tragedy of monumental proportions, even in these difficult times, some elders cannot resist the temptation to act on impulse on matters of vital security concerns to our dear nation.
And they have become a danger to us all because Nigerians are incredibly gullible by nature.
As responsible citizens, the least we can do is to subject all unverified information and content forwarded to us to thorough fact-checks in the interest of peace and harmony.
We must guard against the temptation to nourish our inner demons in the manner we react to slander, falsehood and abuse in the social media space by exercising maximum responsibility for the common good.
It’s the least we can do to create a fully functional nation of our dreams.
We have a nation to build.
Muhammad K. Ibrahim writes from Abuja