The presidential candidate of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, says young people on social media have shown him no mercy, ahead of the 2023 general elections.
As a consequence, he has decided to run away from social media, at least for now, to safeguard his feeble health, he says.
“I don’t read social media anymore o! They abuse hell out of me.
“If I read it, I get high blood pressure, I get angry. I don’t read it. If I want to hear anything, my children or any of my workers will tell me what’s happening. If I am tired, I say please fogerrit,” Tinubu says.
A chunk of the insults and vituperations Tinubu receives from social media comes from microblogging platform, Twitter, where the politician boasts 1.5 million followers.
In June of 2021, Tinubu’s governing APC banned Twitter in Nigeria, saying the platform was “capable of undermining the country’s corporate existence.” The ban was lifted on January 13, 2022–214 days after–following backlash and worldwide condemnation.
Nigeria’s Twitter users have expressed fears that Tinubu could ban the platform should he win next year’s presidential contest–given how he’s been treated there since he announced his presidential bid in January.
There’s been no love lost for Tinubu and his APC on Twitter and across other social media platforms amid spiralling inflation, a weakened currency, rising poverty and erratic power supply.
In recent times, Twitter has beamed the searchlight on Tinubu’s alleged drug dealing past and a history littered with allegations of certificate forgery and age falsification.
Besides Twitter, Tinubu’s frequent gaffes, verbal blunders on the campaign trail, cognitive dissonance and speech impairment, are a daily staple on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.
The septuagenarian has provided sufficient content for skit-makers and meme artists this electioneering season, with at least a freudian slip or two guaranteed from his trembling lips and physique at every public outing.