http://9jaroutes..com.ng/2016/01/the-political-power-of-social-media-by.html

REMARKS BY KAZEEM SULAIMAN
IN FELICITATION WITH MAXWELL ADEGBENRO ON HIS BIRTHDAY.

With great humility I accept the honor to deliver this lecture on the 4th Online lecture in felicitation with Maxwell Adegbenro, on his birthday.

There is a huge importance to celebrate the day with a public lecture, so as to share knowledge and highlight the critical roles of social media in our daily lives and in our political spheres. Hitherto, in previous elections and various protest across the country.

Since the rise of the Internet in the early 1990s, the world's networked population has grown from few millions to over two billion. Over the same period, social media have become a fact of life for civil society worldwide, involving many actors, regular citizens, activists, nongovernmental organizations, telecommunications firms, software providers, governments. This raises an obvious question for world leaders: How does the ubiquity of social media affect their interests, and how should global policy respond to it?

On January 1, 2011, during the official announcement of the increase in pump price of Purified motor spirit popularly known as Petrol by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, loyalists in the National Assembly who were duly elected to represent the interests of their constituencies kept mute while some were undecided in other not to be seen as anti-government and to also keep their share in the proceeds of the subsidy removal. In less than less than a week after the decision was announced, thousands of Nigerians, angry that their corrupt government was unable to present tangible reasons for the anti-people decision, converged on the Gani Fawehinmi (Freedom Park), a major crossroads in Ojota, lagos. The protest was arranged, in part, by distribution of printed fliers and forwarded text messages reading, "Occupy Nigeria." The crowd quickly swelled, and in the next few days, hundreds of thousands of people arrived, choking traffic in Ojota and its environs.
The public's ability to coordinate such a massive and rapid response, close to one million text messages were sent that week and so alarmed the country’s National Assembly that they reversed course and fate was sealed; by January the pump price was reduced by a token. The event marked the first time that social media had helped force the government to consider a partial reversal of the pump price.

The “Occupy Nigeria” strategy has been adopted many times to include the “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign. These among other protests ultimately succeeded in defaming the Peoples Democratic Party that had a grip on the country for 16years and eventually lost power in 2015, after a well-coordinated social media driven campaign in part by text message, Facebook, and Twitter amongst others.

During the March 28, and April 11, 2015 general elections in Nigeria, politicians and activists used every possible technological coordinating tool to monitor and report discrepancies at various polling units which ultimately brought about the crackdown on the plans of the party in power to rig the polls. Obviously, the population of informed Nigerians on social media has drastically increased as a result of the role it played during the 2015 elections and the vast opportunities it offers.

The use of social media tools like text messaging, e-mail, photo sharing, social networking, and the likes does not have a single preordained outcome. Therefore, attempts to outline their effects on political action are too often reduced to dueling anecdotes.

In conclusion, despite this mixed record, social media have become a coordinating tools for nearly all of the world's political movements but we must agree that most of the world's authoritarian governments are trying to limit access to it by announcing policies that will delve a big blow on propagandists on these platforms. However, this seem unachievable considering the tangible roles these platforms played in bringing them to power and the need to keep these media as a bridge between them and the people. Nonetheless, there are obvious reasons why the government should regulate the abuse of the internet, take pragmatic steps towards the reduction in cyber criminalities, while encouraging the people to key into its positivity.

As our dear friend add a year to his age, It is my delight to on behalf of other friends and members of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu social media team, coordinated by Mr. Sunday Dare, to wish him the best in his present endeavors and in his future pursuits.

Happy birthday and many more years of prosperity and greatness.

Thank you.

http://9jaroutes..com.ng/2016/01/the-political-power-of-social-media-by.html

@Mbuhari and @ApcNigeria are Cowards, they can't take criticism, they block me on twitter so they can see Zombies comment alone. #Coward.

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