You may not know it but Nigeria just dodged a bullet this weekend….

Over the weekend 3 bombs were detonated in Abuja….immediately a “big man” on twitter made a post alluding that militants and/or associates of the ex-Petroleum Minister were simply bombing to deflect attention from her arrest in London.

Next, there a twitter post put up, showing a Nigerian who “predicted” the bombs going off in Abuja.

It did not take long before the narrative reached Facebook, some pushed the narrative as a question…”could it be that the bombs were because of the arrests?”, others focused on the identity, specifically the name of the man that “predicted” the blasts.

Soon the bombs were not the issue, apportioning blames became the issue….

If that narrative has been allowed to spin on, by now who knows? Would someone who lost his relatives in that bomb blast not have good reason to seek revenge? On the people that were falsely and casually accused?

This is why I remain very afraid of Social Media…..

In Rwanda, I always imagined the Hutus were devils for killing Tutsi, I watched a documentary that explained what really happened. Rwanda had tribal tensions from their independence, a group of extremist from the Majority Hutus launched a sponsored campaign using the radio to blame the Tutsi for a plane crash that killed their President, a Hutu. The messaging on radio was direct, and very specific, “the Tutsis did this”….The Hutu populace assumed that what the radio was saying was factual, because the government simply kept quite…so they “helped” their government kill 800,000 Tutsi and Moderate Hutus…because the radio told them to. In fact daily in the evening the Radio will real out names of new targets, people that were helping Tutsi etc etc, this was no mob action.

Todays “radio” is Social Media……

Nigeria is a nation where nearly half the population are illiterates…..this is factual. Nigeria is also a very volatile place we have had riots over watch factory in Switzerland, solar eclipse, over Danish cartoons, over Palestine, people have been taken from police cells and beheaded….over rumors. This is a nation where people believe you can lose your sexual organs if you shake someone hand…

Nigeria is not a place where you communicate irresponsibly, it’s a place where you must modulate your communication. . What does it gain any Nigeria, to say group A carried out this bombing? without any shred of evidence, just conjecture?

What Social Media has done is allow individuals with a loud “voice” take their personal opinions and amplify it…such amplification can be shaped anyhow and go anywhere

When people without proof, call the names of A or put up pictures of a Nigerian who predicted a bomb blast, they are simply dog whistling….they are sending a coded signal….and that is my fear

Today, Boko Haram, now known as ISIS (they are still scum) released the photos of the Abuja suicide bombers and has claimed responsibility…

Will the Nigerians who posted accusations now retract? I don’t seek an apology, I don’t have that power,  I simply seek responsibility, responsibility in communication going forward….

Rise above these petty politics, these petty tribal politics, Nigeria is at war, an enemy has declared war on us…Remember the boy who cried wolf?

I rest

Its our problem, we can fix it