Washington Post slams GEJ for using the #bringback hashtag for campaign

Capture

Below is what Washington Post wrote about president Jonathan’s supporters using the #bringback hashtag for his campaign

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. Continue…

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.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Our politicians do not value life. Their priorities are winning election, looting treasury and corrupting the society for continuity.
    When calamity befell the society they see it as another source of enhancing their income – investigation panel with huge sitting allowances, misappropriation of votes for such disasters and programs (e.g. 1.9 billion for Ebola), faking benefactors of relieves, new political appointments, etc. Our case is what makes the public cry is a thing of joy to those in position of power.
    Little wonder “Bringback our girls” now coin as “Bringback GEJ. The presidency cannot claim to be innocent in this. The presidency is the under dog behind all these campaigns of second term. It is Jonathan’s strategy of forcing himself on Nigerians.

  2. ALMIGHTY ALLAH , UNDERSTANDS ALL
    THAT IS OPEN AND HIDDEN. MAY ALLAH SAVES US FROM THE EVIL MACHINATIONS OF OUR POLITICIANS AND GREEDINESS OF WE THE MASSES AMEEN.GEJ AS A PRACTISING CHRISTAN,YOUR POLITICAL STATUTE MUST BE GUIDED BY THE TEACHINGS OF YOUR BIBLE.AFTERWARDS WE ARE ALL ANSWERABLE TO ALLAH HEREAFTER.GEJ I WISH U GOODLUCK.BUT PLSSSSSSS #BringBackOurGirls.