₦airaland Forum

thebosstrevor1:
My point is simple no trend is organic.

Trends are paid for and it pick momentum from free tweets to create a spike to get to number 1.

I know that that is your point and it is wrong! You have totally and completely failed to explain all the examples that I and others have given you. Who paid for Dr Adadevoh's death to trend? Who paid for Prince Philip's death to trend (it was number 1 even today), who paid for Balogun Market to trend, etc?

You have totally failed to understand that something will trend when a very large number of people tweet about it, for example, COVID-19 or lockdown that affected everybody and was reported on traditional media.

Do you now see where you failed?

At least he now knows better.

thebosstrevor1:
Next time use your Twitter account with less followers to tweet, tell all your friends and families to tweet and share for 10 days constantly, lets see if you will trend.

If you are not using a very reputable twitter page, like newspapers, or influencers with lot of followers, you are wasting your time trending.

Even top banks with their followers here in Nigeria hardly trends except when they use influencers to tweet aggressively.

Nothing that you have posted has refuted my claim. When an event occurs that affects a lot of people and is reported on traditional media, a lot of people will of course tweet about it and it will trend on Twitter without anybody paying for it. I hope you have now learnt this.

Of course people pay for trends. That's what my thread is about. But no sensible person will say that every single trend is paid for. Everybody knows that's not true and you will be laughed at if you make that claim.

I bet thebosstrevor1 will say that some people did give away to trend Dr Ameyo Adadavoh when she died or to trend Armed Forces Remembrance Day

thebosstrevor1:
They were not number 1.

All the accounts tweeting on trending lists are all influncers accounts with blue verification marks because they are paid.

Now go to twitter and do a simple research, take up all the trending topic, click on them, check who are all posting and telling people to share, they are all accounts with good followers.

You said that nothing trends on Twitter unless it is paid for. You were wrong. Everybody knows it. You are only introducing the idea of being number 1 now because you know you were wrong.


The fire at Balogun Market trended to the extent that Katie Hopkins, the renowned British racist tweeted about it. People were tweeting about it all over the world and it was number 1 in Nigeria. It was even reported by all the major international news stations. Nobody did give away for it.

Did anybody do give away when Tolulope Arotile died?

President Obasanjo's appointments in the security sector cut accross all sections of Nigeria, but you know what?

It wasn't about where they were from and it shouldn't be about where they were from. It should be about their competence.

thebosstrevor1:
There has never been a situation where a major nigerian accident became number 1 on twitter trends.

And if you watch the Nigerian twitter trends, check the accounts of those posting the trends, they are all verified accounts and they are all doing giveaway to share and post.

The fire at Balogun Market was number 1 on Twitter trends. In fact, two separate fires. The first one raced to number 1 because people thought that Boko Haram had bombed the place. Nobody did give away for it.

I can tell that you know you've lost the argument because you are already shifting the goalpost. Nobody said anything about being number 1 until you introduced that red herring

thebosstrevor1:
Fifa do heavy sponsored promotions on twitter.

Twitter competitions are held, hastag contests, football contests are all promoted on twitter, infact tv stations, brands all promote the worldcup hagtags, with that the momentum arise to be number 1 on twitter trends all over the world.

Nothing is free, twitters gets bulk if its revenue from advertising.

When there is an accident at a particular spot in Lagos and the name of that place trends on Twitter or when there's a fire at Balogun Market and it trends on Twitter, I guess that is also sponsored, right? There's no such thing as an organic trend, right?

They did the same thing in 2018. The other banks reported to CBN and they had to apologise.

Here's the thread https://www.nairaland.com/4637187/bankwars-sterling-bank-apologises-shading

That should be Alex Saab, not Alez Saab!

See previous threads here.
https://www.nairaland.com/6493809/twitter-suspends-nigerian-influencers-accounts

https://www.nairaland.com/6494505/venezuela-using-nigerian-influencers-wage

Why Do A Bunch Of Nigerian Twitter Influencers Want This Alleged Money Launderer To Go Free? They’re Being Paid.

Alex Saab may be extradited to the United States — but he has some unlikely allies.

Craig Silverman BuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on April 8, 2021, at 3:01 p.m. ET

www.nairaland.com/attachments/13372900_4_webp_webpe02dca8fb138aba4c0028dda65971507
A man walks past graffiti demanding the freedom of Alex Saab, a Colombian businessperson, in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 23, 2021.
Yuri Cortez / AFP via Getty Images


As an alleged money launderer who worked with the Venezuelan government and is fighting an extradition order to the United States, Alex Saab has some unlikely allies.

Since mid-January, #FreeAlexSaab has been a rallying cry among Nigerians on Twitter, thanks to a broad influence operation with connections to employees of a Nigerian PR firm and a UK-based nonprofit called Digital Good Governance for Africa. The campaign paid influencers to tweet about Saab in an effort to sway public opinion and court proceedings in Nigeria and Cape Verde, the African island nation where Saab is currently under house arrest.

Saab is a Colombian businessperson whom a Florida court charged with money laundering in 2019, following related charges in Colombia two months prior. He is also alleged to have helped the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro evade sanctions via fuel and gold trading. While Saab was traveling from Venezuela to Iran in June 2020, officials in Cape Verde arrested him when his plane stopped to get refueled. He denies all charges. His lawyers say his detention violates international law because Venezuela named him a “special envoy,” which provided him diplomatic immunity, and because the Interpol red notice calling for his arrest was issued after he was detained in Cape Verde.

In addition to legal maneuvers, Saab’s supporters have been using Twitter to argue his case, violating the platform’s rules in the process.

In response to an investigation by BuzzFeed News and the Digital Africa Research Lab (DigiAfricaLab), Twitter suspended more than 1,500 accounts this week for manipulating the #FreeAlexSaab hashtag. That includes almost all 40 accounts that BuzzFeed News and DigiAfricaLab connected to the paid campaign, as well as that of a prominent Nigerian influencer with more than 1.5 million followers who offered to pay people who engaged with her tweets about Saab.

Twitter also suspended the accounts of three Nigerian journalists who work for TheCable and the Nigerian Tribune, two newspapers, and whose supportive tweets about Saab tagged an account, @Fernand47588665, which sources and an internal campaign document say was used to track the campaign. The reporters all told BuzzFeed News they did not receive payment to show support for Saab.

The findings expose how Twitter's trending topics continue to be affected by global manipulation campaigns and illustrate how professional marketing firms are frequently implicated in social media influence operations. The campaign also provides a window into the booming, shady Twitter influencer industry in Nigeria, in which people often accept money to promote brands, causes, and hashtags without disclosing they are part of paid campaigns.

"Engaging in platform manipulation — regardless of the intent — is a violation of the Twitter Rules. This includes gaming hashtags, artificially boosting content, or paying for fake engagement,” a company spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. “As a result of these behaviors, we’ve suspended more than 1,500 accounts associated with these hashtags and our investigations continue.”

“The influencer industry has quickly become a hotbed of fraud and discourse manipulation.”

Rosemary Ajayi, a researcher at the Digital Africa Research Lab, said the Saab campaign shows how common it has become for Twitter hashtags and discussions in Nigeria to be manipulated by influencers.

“The influencer industry has quickly become a hotbed of fraud and discourse manipulation,” Ajayi said. “Whether you’re looking to promote a new album or a church event or settle the score with an adversary, many PR firms and consultants operating within the Nigerian influencer ecosystem will recruit influencers to deliver this for a fee, no questions asked.”

www.nairaland.com/attachments/13372884_1_webp_webp4a967b685b482fcedddfdd2505a1b749
Tweets sent about Alex Saab during the campaign.
Twitter

Beginning in January, a small group of Nigerian influencers and human rights advocates received a Saab campaign briefing document produced on the letterhead of Digital Good Governance for Africa (DIGA).

DIGA is a UK nonprofit led by Naji Makarem, a professor of international development at University College London, and Christian Elemele, a Nigerian expat and social entrepreneur who previously studied at UCL. Founded in 2019, it is currently working on a project to bring digital voting to Nigeria for the country’s 2023 elections.

The document outlined a social media campaign that would recruit influencers in Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal to tweet in support of Saab and help generate public outcry about his case. It said participating influencers were expected to post twice per week for the initial one-month campaign, from Jan. 18 to Feb. 18.

“The influencer is expected to use the hashtags #FreeAlexSaab and tag prominent Nigerians, Ghanians and Sengalese handles from government, business, celebrities, activists etc. which will be provided to the influencer,” the five-page document reads.

It instructed influencers to engage with replies to their posts about Saab and to tag the @wakandanomics Twitter account if they needed additional information. That account does not list a full name but used a photo of Elemele as its avatar. Elemele is also the cofounder of a nonprofit called Wakanda Social Enterprise.

Elemele and Makarem did not respond to multiple emails or to a detailed list of questions from BuzzFeed News. After BuzzFeed News reached out, Elemele’s photo was removed from the @wakandanomics account.

By Jan. 20, the hashtag #FreeAlexSaab was gaining steam on Twitter, thanks to Nigerian accounts that often tweeted the same articles and images, tagged the same accounts, interacted with one another, and expressed unwavering support for Saab. The tweets intensified in March as the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States, based in Abuja, Nigeria, prepared to rule on his case. It decided in Saab's favor, but the case continues in Cape Verde.

Five sources with knowledge of the Saab campaign said that 40 Nigerian influencers, which have more than a million followers in total, were recruited to participate by at least two employees of Alpha Reach, a PR firm run by Japheth “JJ” Omojuwa. Omojuwa, a prominent Nigerian influencer with 1 million followers on Twitter, was listed in the DIGA document as one of the people the campaign hoped to recruit.

Omojuwa told BuzzFeed News that “a friend in the UK” connected to the Saab campaign contacted him, and that he declined to participate — aside from posting a few supportive tweets.

“I said to this person in confidence that I support the mission and would be happy to retweet a couple articles, but I would not personally be part of it,” he said. Omojuwa cited his “strong relationship” with the US Embassy in Nigeria as a reason why he did not want to be seen as advocating for Saab’s release, but he said it was “possible” employees at his firm worked on it.

“I don’t think I can start to have a conversation about whether Alpha is involved. If they are, there have definitely been some form of nondisclosure [agreements],” Omojuwa said.

He later issued a statement to emphasize that “Alpha Reach as an organisation was not involved in this campaign.”

Ajayi said Alpha Reach employees participated in the campaign by tweeting about Saab and engaging with the influencers they helped to recruit and pay.

“They retweeted each other and developed threads around each other’s tweets using replies and quote-retweets,” she said. “They also shared news articles and attempted to draw in unsuspecting subject matter experts by tagging their handles and asking questions.”

Two Nigerian influencers on Twitter who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions told BuzzFeed News and DigiAfricaLab that Alpha Reach employees paid them to tweet about Saab, share specific content and hashtags, and tag a set of accounts in their tweets. Influencers were typically paid between $6.50 to $15 for their work, though some received more, according to sources.

The influencers said participants were added to a WhatsApp group where they received direction about what to post and which tweets to engage with and tag. The campaign brief produced by DIGA said each influencer should “be added to a whatsapp group to better synchronise the timing of tweets.”

Another influencer said an Alpha Reach employee told them to tag accounts, including those of Venezuelan political leaders. “What was mentioned was that [people] would be monitoring accounts participating for retweets and amplification,” the influencer said.

One of those accounts is @Fernand47588665. The account was created in January, has no profile picture and fewer than 10 followers, and rarely tweets. Yet by late March, it has been tagged in more than 5,000 tweets about Saab. Two influencers and one person familiar with the paid campaign said participants were instructed to tag the @Fernand47588665 account in their Saab tweets to help the campaign track the effort.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/13372885_2_webp_webp46aae8e5e712b51f1dae4082b543f022

“That Fernand account was the [primary] account that must be tagged,” said one influencer, who added that it “felt fishy.” They also said they were told to tag Venezuelan accounts, including those belonging to prominent politicians in the Maduro government.

“It’s highly unlikely that Nigerians would have come across this account without it being presented to them,” Ajayi said.

That’s backed up by the campaign brief, which said, “The Influencer is also expected to tag @Fernand47588665 on twitter to aid monitoring.”

Twitter has temporarily restricted the @Fernand47588665 account owing to its “unusual activity.”

Both influencers who were paid to participate said they believed their tweets were relayed to people in Venezuela. They said suspicious Spanish-language accounts and those belonging to people in Venezuela engaged with their tweets via retweets, likes, and replies.

“I dunno why all of a sudden I was getting spammed by lots of bot Spanish accounts,” one influencer said.

Networks of suspicious accounts, some of which tweeted in Spanish, were also part of an earlier phase of the campaign to free Saab, according to the Financial Times. The paper obtained a copy of an “intelligence” analysis from an unnamed source that concluded the Maduro government “and/or its proxies (witting or unwitting) are involved in a coordinated campaign to influence both the government of Cabo Verde and its population to obstruct Alex Saab’s extradition.”

BuzzFeed News and DigiAfricaLab have not seen evidence of involvement by the Venezuelan government or its proxies, and those involved in the campaign said they do not know who funded the effort. A Twitter spokesperson said the company publicly discloses when it removes accounts that were part of state-linked operations, which it has not done in this case as of now.

The report obtained by the Financial Times said that, beginning in October, a group of accounts “tweeted extensively about Saab” for a few weeks and then stopped. A second network of 86 accounts sprang up in December. As of January, “the [primary] driver of that increase appears to be the deployment of Nigeria-based social media influencers,” according to the report.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/13372886_3_webp_webp20fd57ba227e1d3bb997dd416e1ea4bd

Along with the people who said they were recruited and paid by Alpha Reach employees, other prominent Nigerian influencers also tweeted in support of Saab. Two influencers with roughly 2 million followers between them sent tweets in March offering to pay people if they amplified a tweet about Saab or replied with the #FreeAlexSaab hashtag.

On March 23, Pamilerin Adegoke, a Nigerian influencer on Twitter who has roughly half a million followers, sent a tweet asking people to “engage my next post.” In a subsequent tweet, he asked people to sign an online petition for Saab. That tweet tagged @Fernand47588665 as well as Maduro. Adegoke later tweeted screenshots allegedly showing two payments of roughly $10 to two people. He then deleted the tweet that asked people to engage.

Adegoke told BuzzFeed News that an unnamed friend asked him to tweet in support of Saab. He said he paid people to engage with his Saab tweet “to drive traffic to the post for more people to see it, basically,” but claimed he was not paid to participate.

Twitter briefly suspended his account on Monday after inquiries from BuzzFeed News. This is at least the second time Twitter has taken action against Adegoke. In 2019, it banned his verified account, @ThePamilerin.

Also on March 23, Tonto Dikeh, a Nigerian actor and influencer with 1.5 million followers, tweeted, “I want to give someone who urgently needs money N25,000. Pls tell me what you will like to buy if I gift this to you. Pls add #FreeAlexSaab to your replies and you may be my next winner.”

An hour later, she asked people to sign an online petition in support of Saab and offered to send money to followers if 100 people signed it.

The tweets were deleted soon after they were posted, a pattern that Dikeh’s account has shown going back years, according to Ajayi.

She said Dikeh and Adegoke “are both well known for their involvement in paid influencer campaigns and have a history, going back a few years, of openly offering giveaways as a means of manipulating the platform.”

Reached on WhatsApp, Dikeh said that neither she nor her social media manager knew anything about the Saab tweets. “I don’t know anything about this. Free Alex Saab? Who is that?” she said before suggesting someone may have hacked her account.

Her account was suspended on Tuesday.

Ajayi said the account suspensions, many of which are temporary, do not address the widespread manipulation of Twitter by influencers in Nigeria, an issue that takes on more urgency with elections coming in 2023.

“These actors provide a highly sought-after service and some earn millions of naira every month. It will require more than artificial intelligence and account suspensions to stop this,” she said. “It’s going to take a paradigm shift.” ●

Jeremy Singer-Vine contributed reporting to this story.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/craigsilverman/nigerian-twitter-campaign-alex-saab?__twitter_impression=true

Sunday2021:
nobody from north east, but you can never hear cry of nepotism but the moment it affected the south east, you will hear cry of marginalization, nepotism, Biafra etc.
The 5% want everybody to worship them.
Useless terrorists!

Read!

naptu2:
Paul Dike - South East.

Victor Ombu - South South

Victor Malu - North Central

Martin-Luther Agwai - North West

Isaac Alfa - North Central

Andrew Azazi - South South

Ibrahim Ogohi - North Central

Alexander Ogomudia - South South


Iliya Lokadang - North Central

Bello Lafiaji - North West

Ahmadu Giade - North East

Nuhu Ribadu - North East

Jacob Gyang Buba - North Central

Uzoamaka Nwizu - South East

It's not about where you are from, it's about your capabilities.

Paul Dike - South East.

Victor Ombu - South South

Victor Malu - North Central

Martin-Luther Agwai - North West

Isaac Alfa - North Central

Andrew Azazi - South South

Ibrahim Ogohi - North Central

Alexander Ogomudia - South South


Iliya Lokadang - North Central

Bello Lafiaji - North West

Ahmadu Giade - North East

Nuhu Ribadu - North East

Jacob Gyang Buba - North Central

Lady Uzoamaka Nwizu - South East.

Everybody should throw their hat in the ring, just like in 1999.

The Lagos State Govt @followlasg

The Lagos State Government is set to divert the traffic on Adegbola Street, Ikeja for 15 months, commencing from Sunday 11th April, 2021, in readiness for the construction of Ikeja Overpass, Lagos Rail Mass Transit Red Line Project.

A statement signed by the Commissioner for Transportation, @dr_oladeinde, said the diversion is in continuation of the construction of an Overpass Rail Line Bridge and necessary to ensure the safety of road users and contractors against accident during the construction period.

@dr_oladeinde disclosed that motorists from Computer Village and Simbiat Abiola Way heading towards Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway will be diverted to Akinremi Street to link Oshifila Street and make their way through the Rail Level Crossing to their desired destinations.

The Transport Commissioner further stated that motorists from Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway will equally be diverted to the Ikeja Rail Level Crossing to connect Balogun Street and connect Oduyemi Street to link Obafemi Awolowo Way to other locations.

Oladeinde also added that Traffic Advisory Boards will be placed at Ikeja Under-Bridge area, Simbiat Abiola Way and Adebola/Balogun junctions to serve as a guide, as well as a reminder for motorists that ply the corridors frequently.

He appealed to residents and motorists in the area to cooperate with the traffic management personnel charged with the task of ensuring free vehicular movement in the area, by complying with traffic regulations and interventions towards ensuring speedy completion of the project.

https://mobile.twitter.com/followlasg/status/1380173698599096320

stonemasonn:
Ribadu was EFCC boss, what about the rest?

naptu2:
Iliya Lokadang - North Central

Bello Lafiaji - North West

Ahmadu Giade - North East

Nuhu Ribadu - North East

Jacob Gyang Buba North Central

Iliya Lokadang = NDLEA chairman

Bello Lafiaji = NDLEA chairman

Ahmadu Giade = NDLEA chairman

Nuhu Ribadu = EFCC chairman

Jacob Gyang Buba = Comptroller general of customs (he is also a basketball enthusiast and he is currently His Majesty, the Gbong Gwom Jos).

Iliya Lokadang - North Central

Bello Lafiaji - North West

Ahmadu Giade - North East

Nuhu Ribadu - North East

Jacob Gyang Buba North Central

Okoroawusa:
All Christians... nobody talk that one

Ibrahim Ogohi?

Hahahahahaha.


Paul Dike - South East.

Victor Ombu - South South

Victor Malu - North Central

Martin-Luther Agwai - North West

Isaac Alfa - North Central

Andrew Azazi - South South

Ibrahim Ogohi - North Central

Alexander Ogomudia - South South



Very funny