It was the social media campaign of the year. #BringBackOurGirls awoke the world to the ravages of Boko Haram, an al-Qaeda-linked terror group in Nigeria, and the plight of the millions of people who live in the midst of their insurgency. At the heart of the message were hundreds of missing schoolgirls, abducted in April from the remote village of Chibok by Boko Haram fighters, who vowed to make them into slaves. The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag channeled both sympathy from abroad and local outrage and concern in Nigeria, with many angry at the government of President Goodluck Jonathan for being unable to free the captured women.

But four months later, the girls have yet to be brought back despite the efforts of the Nigerian military as well as U.S. counter-terrorism forces deployed in neighboring Chad. More than 200 girls remain missing in suspected Boko Haram captivity. Others have perished from snakebite, illness and deprivation in the wild.

Boko Haram itself has continued its slaughter this summer, and seized more territory in the country's restive northeast. Over the weekend, it stormed towns along Nigeria's border with Cameroon, killing dozens of innocents.
Nigerian forces are now fighting Boko Haram in pitched battles around Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, the main hotbed of Boko Haram's operations. The U.N. reports that at least 1.5 million people have been displaced by the conflict since Jonathan's government declared a state of emergency in May.

But the gravity of the moment hasn't stopped some in Nigeria from appropriating the tragic hashtag for rather cynical purposes. Banners emerged in the capital Abuja over the weekend showing Jonathan alongside a new slogan: #BringBackGoodluck2015. The campaign appears to be the work of supporters of the president, keen for his reelection in presidential polls next February. It's not clear whether Jonathan has officially endorsed the new hashtag, but its seeming ubiquity suggests that he is not opposed to it.

While #BringBackOurGirls was just a brief cause celebre in the West — a passing moment to get morally exercised and then move on — it had a deeper meaning in Nigeria. It echoed the larger frustrations of a society that has little faith in its political leadership, is fed up with endemic corruption and wants genuine reform and better governance. Jonathan blamed activists espousing the hashtag for "politicizing" the crisis.

Boko Haram is a fanatical, murderous outfit, but its insurgency gained sway in a region that has been historically marginalized and neglected by Nigeria's central government. Jonathan's seeming indifference toward the missing girls hardly helped. In the early stages of the protests, his wife even reportedly had a number of #BringBackOurGirls activists detained.

In this context, the new campaign slogan is particularly galling. Jonathan has not brought back the girls, yet his campaign expects Nigeria to bring him back to power. One wonders if it will spawn more rich satire among Nigerians on social media. After all, there's plenty of precedent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/09/08/this-may-be-the-most-inappropriate-political-hashtag-of-the-year/

Jonathan is insensitive and clueless

Cha!!

Boko Haram is a fanatical, murderous outfit, but its insurgency gained sway in a region that has been historically marginalized and neglected by Nigeria's central government

Which central government? These oyibos wey dey talk trash.

Excellent hashtag, those of you that find it offensive, should learn to live with it. Some of us had to put up with your bring back the girls crap. So put up with bring back Goodluck tag. Its still a democracy and each of us are entitled to our own kind of speech, even when you find it offensive.

The stench of the insensitivity and cluelesness of the current occupants of Aso Rock has reached far flung America!!

Only a fool would insist on the continuation of leadership of this calibre.

atlwireles: Excellent hashtag, those of you that find it offensive, should learn to live with it. Some of us had to put up with your bring back the girls crap. So put up with bring back Goodluck tag. Its still a democracy and each of us are entitled to our own kind of speech, even when you find it offensive.

Smh. Rip Shame

*In Asari Dokubo's voice* 'the #BringBackGoodluck campaign is a scam. Goodluck was never ruling.....

Obiagelli:
Smh. Rip Shame

Shame You are always confusing your reality BringbackJonathan2015

clueless leadership

OP: But the gravity of the moment hasn't stopped some in Nigeria from appropriating the tragic hashtag for rather cynical purposes. Banners emerged in the capital Abuja over the weekend showing Jonathan alongside a new slogan: #BringBackGoodluck2015. The campaign appears to be the work of supporters of the president, keen for his reelection in presidential polls next February. It's not clear whether Jonathan has officially endorsed the new hashtag, but its seeming ubiquity suggests that he is not opposed to it.

While #BringBackOurGirls was just a brief cause celebre in the West — a passing moment to get morally exercised and then move on — it had a deeper meaning in Nigeria. It echoed the larger frustrations of a society that has little faith in its political leadership, is fed up with endemic corruption and wants genuine reform and better governance. Jonathan blamed activists espousing the hashtag for "politicizing" the crisis.

Jonathan always clueless and incompetent in reasoning.
#BringBackJonathanToKirikiri

atlwireles: Excellent hashtag, those of you that find it offensive, should learn to live with it. Some of us had to put up with your bring back the girls crap. So put up with bring back Goodluck tag. Its still a democracy and each of us are entitled to our own kind of speech, even when you find it offensive.

It is very clear you are missing the point here!

desgiezd:

It is very clear you are missing the point here!

what's the damn point I'm missing

mtchewwww

And can you explain the reason you need America's validation of your government? Some Nigerians obviously don't want to break the shackles of colonialism on themselves. I can see you consider America to be superior to your country.

omenka: The stench of the insensitivity and cluelesness of the current occupants of Aso Rock has reached far flung America!!

Only a fool would insist on the continuation of leadership of this calibre.

nnekaogo: And can you explain the reason you need America's validation of your government? Some Nigerians obviously don't want to break the shackles of colonialism on themselves. I can see you consider America to be superior to your country.

My post in no way suggest a craving for American validation to confirm the appropriateness or otherwise of the desire for an extension of the regime of Jonathan. What it suggest is that, if the Americans, as far as they live, can understand that the admin constitutes a huge failure, how much more Nigerians in Nigeria!!!

Get the drift??

Wat is the American Obsession with my country?



Washington post has now become Abuja Post!



Americans face ur own problems! #BringBackGoodluck2015.