I have thus far refrained from talking about Jubril al-Sudani, because it is bunkum, and I was quite glad that @MBuhari had also ignored it, or, appeared to have.
Until yesterday.
Now he has spoken, and the cat has been set amongst the pigeons as it were.
Until yesterday.
Now he has spoken, and the cat has been set amongst the pigeons as it were.
Three threads to this story:
1 — Jubril al-Sudani is the creation of a delusional and likely insane Nnamdi Kanu. Unfortunately, the story was given strength by the information gap that @MBuhari’s long absences generated when he went for his meds.
1 — Jubril al-Sudani is the creation of a delusional and likely insane Nnamdi Kanu. Unfortunately, the story was given strength by the information gap that @MBuhari’s long absences generated when he went for his meds.
If his media team had been honest with Nigerians about what is wrong with our president, we won’t have had to deal with this. Lesson — when there is an information gap, people will fill it with something. Natura abhorret vacuum.
Not responding to the rumour was the right thing, but Buhari being Buhari, the moment he was outside the country, he started to sing like a canary, and now the international press has picked it up.
As of four hours ago, the influential American political commentator, @benshapiro, has used it to make yeye on Twitter. For those who may not know, Ben Shapiro has a show on @FoxNews, and guess who watches it…
3 — Most importantly from my view point is this: that this rumour spread like wildfire is evidence of the kind of society that we are. One that thrives on unsubstantiated tales, and disdains rigorous fact-checking and data gathering.
To be honest, I am a lot more frightened about Nigeria’s future now than I have ever been. The kind of people who have propagated this tale, highly educated people, makes me worried.
I mean I got WhatsApp messages from people I know, people whom I respect, and still do, where they simply forwarded the flipped “left-handed Buhari” as evidence that he is now a clone.
If the so-called cream of the crop in Nigeria can spread this without thinking, imagine the kind of damage a well thought through fake news campaign can do to us…
Anyway, make I dey go find my daily akpu.
Anyway, make I dey go find my daily akpu.
