Before
Wednesday, #DasukiGate was the only hashtag used to share their views on the
allegedly ongoing arms deal probe.
But
#BuhariGate dramatically broke the Internet on Wednesday, causing an online war
between anti- and pro-President Muhammadu Buhari on social media.
The
source of the hashgag was not known as of press time. But a pro-Buhari social
media activist, Japthet Omojuwa, alleged that it was created by supporters of
the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, to divert attention from
the investigation.
“They
met in their WhatsApp group and agreed, ‘let us use #BuhariGate to save
Dasuki’. You think Twitter is the one prosecuting him?” he asked in a tweet.
The
#BuhariGate ‘trenders’ challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to address
Nigerians on the allegation that he also benefitted from the looted funds.
According
to them, speaking through his media aides did not sufficiently address the
concerns of millions of Nigerians who are counting on him for a transparent leadership.
Dasuki
had claimed that the sport utility vehicles given to the President after he was
attacked by suspected insurgents were bought with part of the money, just as
$300,000 cash was given to him from the money.
The
President’s media aide, Femi Adesina, had defended the President, saying the
SUVs were part of his statutory benefits. He also denied the cash gift
allegation.
But
critics went on social media on Wednesday demanding further explanation from
the President on the issue.
Tweeting
on the hashtag, a user, Radical Youthman said, “The greatest hypocrisy by
Buhari was to shun the Council of State meetings and clandestinely receive two
SUVs from the same state he shunned.”
According
to @PaulUtho, another tweeter, the President could not, on account of not
receiving cash, exonerate himself from the scandal. The commenter said the SUVs
receipt was enough reason he should have personally clarified himself before
Nigerians.
But
supporters of the President fired back, saying #BuhariGate could not stop the
prosecution. They urged thorough and hasty prosecution of the accused persons.
One
Ahmed Mustapha fired at those who “collected money to trend” the hashtag. He
said they were not working for the good of the country.
#BuhariGate,
which led Nigeria Twitter Trends for several hours on Wednesday, recorded over
38,000 activities per hour, according to statistics from Rite Tag, a social
media analytic.
The
South African President, Jacob Zuma, has also, in the past week, battled similar
hostile hashtags.
#ZumaMustFall
and several other similar hashtags ones created to draw global attention to the
“rot” of Zuma’s administration have ‘flooded’ social media earlier in the week.
In
the past week, #ZumaMustFall has received over 65,000 mentions on digital
media, said Tospsy.com, an online post tracking tool. The hashtag captures the
current mood of thousands of South African social media activists who are not
happy with the administration of Zuma.
Meanwhile,
the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, seems to be the first top public
figure to adopt #DasukiGate on an online engagement.
Tweeting
on Wednesday, he described the “#DasukiGate arms deal probe as an indictment”
to the Senate.
“I
want us in this 8th Senate to ensure that committees carry out proper oversight.
And those of us in the leadership are going to ensure that we find a way to
make sure that committees do their work on oversight because that is the bottom
line to this.
“The
current investigation going on in the National Security Advisers Office,
whether we like it or not, raises valid questions about the oversight function
of the National Assembly. We must play our roles in the area of oversight
because if we don’t do it, this is what we will get,” he also posted on Facebook.
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