Secret Reporters No place to hide
Ariyo Raphael Dare ATOYE
Did @Omojuwa really understand the implications of taking back all the evils he planted and watered in the name of freedom guaranteed by the social media? As a young unrestrained man, full of pride, I can only urge him to continue without looking back because the evils he planted are too much for him to take back. They are just too much for a chap of his age to swallow, except if he can banish himself to the forest of the gods and surrender to the ‘irumoles’ to protect him.
The social evils propagated and promoted by @Omojuwa and his ilk, have formed a social-circle transformed into a social virus that is fast destroying our social bond. They deliberately created this mess with their ring leader who is now a governor. They held meetings and devised evil plots to undermine this nation in the name of fighting a President and his people. They even called him the sponsor of Boko Haram.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no power to judge others. I believe God can forgive anybody including the leaders of ISIS and BH if they repent sincerely. But God cannot and will never be mocked. There is a huge difference between seeking a genuine repentance/reconciliation and a deceptive redemption to achieve an interest. Nothing suggests he has changed in the era of ‘change’. He was never a change-agent in the first place; he has his own agenda.
@Omojuwa and his gang did cross the red line and committed social sacrilege in the name of advancing vanity. His “friends and parents” on twitter (one of them – ‘a-near-pastor’ who moralises regularly in deceit and over a contrived cause), watched and encouraged him to do more. They saw nothing bad in him calling a sitting President and his wife “pig” or even a worse name. He still recently called him a retard. They pushed him to dance naked in ignominy. The consequences will come.
@Omojuwa abused elders old enough to be his grandparents and disrespected everyone that did not share his view. Indeed, he is a young man obsessed with social media fame unrestrained. Together with his gang, they acted like lords to their gullible followers and as folks who got no elders around to counsel them. It took those not in support of their wicked onslaught several months to regroup and fight back. In the process, abuse begets abuse, nearly everything was reciprocated afterward.
I am not going to exonerate myself and will not cunningly ask God to forgive me in deceit. I am ready for posterity to judge me and pay for my deeds. I believe in punishment and reward. Make no mistake about it; we are all going to reap all that we have sown. Time can only differ but time will tell. The late Sage, Obafemi Awolowo of the blessed memory counseled thus: ‘there is no overdraft in the bank of nature, whatever you sow, you shall reap’. We must all be prepared to face the consequences of our roles. Vengeance is with God.
Before now, I had deliberately restrained myself from joining issues with @Omojuwa even when in the moment of his unbridled tweets; he called me gay (in a picture with @MrAyeDee). But his recent tweets which a friend brought to my attention, alerted me to write this piece for posterity. Let him know that he cannot take the public space for a ride. The public space could be harmless but on a day of reckoning, it will serve justice. It is preposterous to just wake up and tweet forgiveness with arrogance because you have a hidden interest to pursue. It will never resonate with the law of natural justice.
My pain today is that @Omojuwa and his misguided folks are the reasons PMB will suffer huge distractions and massive heat on the social media. It has started already. They cultivated the grounds for the current reality in our polity. One thing is given; they will always attract bad image for PMB and draw negative publicity for any master. They have broken the social cord and we are left with an eye for an eye. I just hope Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu are prepared for the task ahead.
I made a passionate appeal in some tweets, when I saw the name-tags some folks lined up to use to degrade PMB. It is a mess really and shame to those who started this mess. @Omojuwa and his gang, took advantage of their huge followers to drive an unprecedented hate campaign far before the election. To make his ignoble act looks like a campaign period sin, was a big deception. Indeed a contrived apology without apology. I don’t think anybody is against @Omojuwa pursuing his interest, but not at the cost of public deception.
If God gives you peace and you are stable, it is because HE wants you to use it to stabilise others in crisis. If you have huge Twitter followers, there are better things to do with such an opportunity than using it to abuse and incite, and in the process denigrate your own nation. You don’t need to like the face of a leader to be responsible, we are all duty bound to support our country and pray for the leadership. Constructive criticisms are allowed but should not be borne out of hatred. Nothing destroys more than the spirit of hate.
@Omojuwa can consider reading the Books of Proverb and Ecclesiastes to fully understand the folly of his actions. These books should be enough to lead him to commence a walk towards redemption, if he sincerely seeks it.
Ariyo is a public affairs analyst tutored in ABU, Zaria and supported by Unilag, Akoka. He tweets at @AriyoAristotle (Ariyo Raphael Dare ATOYE)
