Publisher of Ovation International Magazine has knocked Nigerian bloggers over what he described as their penchant for peddling “blatant falsehood”.
He said what was published on the internet most times was misleading, adding that the power of the internet was exaggerated and overrated in the country.
Dele Momodu, writing on the quest by youths to have a young person rule Nigeria, wrote: “Everyone who is able to buy some data sees himself as an omnipotent blogger who can install or bring down any government.
”Suddenly every blogger is a celebrity. I make it a habit to check the number of followers they command and control. I check their tweets and scrutinise their influence.
”People with less than 50,000 followers claim to own the heavens and the earth in a country with a population fast approaching 200 million.
”The sad thing is that those who should know better believe their influence and begin to help the bloggers in peddling what is mostly drivel and sometimes blatant falsehood
”What is worse, about 70 percent of the population is largely illiterate or ill-lettered. Ignorance and poverty have also combined to render many of us irrelevant.
”When some of this illiterate and ignorant population seize upon some of the rubbish peddled by the bloggers, you can imagine the outcome.
”Distorted and misleading information travels by the jungle express of rumour mongering that Nigerians seem to have perfected into an art form.
”With the knowledge of the effect that they have, many bloggers have resorted to uncouth language and brazen attacks on whosoever they disagree with. No effort is made to persuade and convince.
”Unless Nigerian youths purge themselves of the arrogance associated with the social media, the journey of liberation may be much longer than we think or know.
”We must all pay our dues before we can begin to flex muscles of greatness and apotheosis.”
