By Farooq Kperogi,
There is a troubling cyberbullying epidemic sweeping through Muslim northern Nigeria that must be frontally confronted and tackled. I get hundreds of private messages here on Facebook every week from northern Nigerian Muslims thanking me for being their “voice” because they can’t say the things I say about the deleterious effects of Buhari’s policies on them. They wonder how I, a northern Muslim who has access to officials of this government, can risk telling the truth without fear of smears.
They tell me they are called “infidels,” “sympathizers of infidels,” “traitors,” and such other terrible epithets for merely daring to criticize Buhari, for giving vent to the pent-up frustrations that they have bottled up since Buhari’s anti-masses, lethargic, and clueless government started revealing its true colors. So they are cowed and intimidated. Many of them praise Buhari in their Facebook timelines, in comments, and join the crowd to condemn critics of the government just to “fit in,” to avoid social ostracism, but mostly to escape the caustic barbs of the fanatical, unthinking, knee-jerk jerks who have appointed themselves as Buhari’s social media defenders. But then they send me private messages and beseech me to never stop pointing out the tragedy that the Buhari government has become for common people, especially in northern Nigeria.
This cyberbullying culture must not be left unchallenged. No one should allow themselves to be bullied by weak, abusive simpletons. Bullies are often cowardly emotional wretches with puny, fragile egos who get their highs from inflicting pain on others. Return the favor and you will see that they will buckle under.
If the bullies are intelligent enough to deserve a response from you, return fire with fire. Match their every insult. Point to their illogic, blatant lies, and hypocrisy. If they can’t have a decorous, decent conversation, let them know two can play that game. If they are abusive mental Lilliputians who don’t even deserve your response, block them and let them stew in their own miserable juice. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Our country is going to the dogs and a band of insecure cowards want to rob people of even the privilege to express their frustration.
Please, don’t send me private messages thanking me for standing up for you; stand for yourself. Your tormentors are cowardly, insecure bullies who can’t stand if you turn up the heat on them. Maybe if we have enough northern Nigerian Muslims freely and without fear calling attention to the serially injurious policies of Buhari, we might see some changes. So let’s start the war against Buharist cyber bullies!