On March 5, 2012, a group known as Invisible Children, Inc. produced a short film to promote the charity group’s “Stop Kony” movement to make Ugandan militia leader, Joseph Kony globally known and arrested for committing crimes against humanity. He is an indicted war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court. The goal of the film was to have him arrested by the end of 2012, when the campaign was expected to expire. It came with the hashtag #kony2012.
The film was an instant hit as it went viral. As of last Tuesday when I visited the video-sharing website YouTube again, it has received over 99 million views and 1.3 million “likes” and over 21.9 thousand “likes” on Vimeo.
Interestingly, the intense exposure of the video caused the “Kony 2012” website to crash shortly after it began gaining widespread popularity. A poll conducted in the United States of America revealed that more than half of young adult Americans heard about Joseph Kony for the first time in the days following the video’s release even though the carnage being perpetrated by his rebel group, The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been going on for decades. Such is the power of the social media which led to the film’s inclusion among the top international events of 2012 by PBS and called the most viral video ever by TIME.
Though controversy dogged the film’s release after a few weeks because of legitimacy issues and the film’s director Jason Russell’s psychological instability; it still resulted in a resolution by the United States Senate and contributed to the decision to send troops to the region by the African Union.
The strategy deployed by the group include obtaining the support of a select group of individuals in order to “help bring awareness to the abuse and killing of children in the East and Central African countries at the hands of Kony and his leadership.” This list included 20 “celebrity culture makers,” such as George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift and Ryan Seacrest.
The list also featured 12 “policy makers” that have “the power to keep U.S. government officials in Africa” in order to work toward the capture of Kony. This list includes former U.S. President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and current Secretary of State John Kerry. A number of celebrities endorsed the awareness campaign against Kony, including Justin Bieber, Bill Gates, Christina Milian, Nicki Minaj, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Ellen Page.
Why do we need this introduction? We need it to draw attention to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign that has become a global headliner since a group of Nigerians decided to bring the attention of the world to the plight of the more than 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State.
Though not a documentary awareness campaign like the Kony film, it succeeded in bringing the issue into the fore-front of global discussions overshadowing the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA) which took place almost about the time the campaign break in Abuja.
It was therefore not surprising that international news media like CNN, Aljazeera, The Economist, New York Times, The Guardian of London and others all weighed in on this pathetic and embarrassing issue. The global attention generated has put the Presidency, the Nigerian military and our politicians in the dock of public opinion. From all indications, the verdict is that they have failed the people. Nigerians did not only move to the streets to express their displeasure, they took their tweets along with them and the global audience had no choice but to join the campaign.
Since the #BringBackOurGirls campaign began, it has captured the attention of religious leaders like Pope Francis and Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, a top religious authority in Saudi Arabia, praying and condemning the actions of the insurgents. Political leaders are not left out either. President Barack Obama and David Cameron have weighed in by delivering tactical military and logistic support. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and other Nigerian politicians have equally endorsed the campaign.
Entertainment celebrities are also not left out; P. Diddy, The Rock, Usher, Genevieve Nnaji, Tiwa Savage, Tonto Dikeh, Angelina Jolie, Kim Kardashian, Seun Kuti, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Obama, Ellen DeGeneres, Christiane Amanpour, Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani young lady shot by the Taliban on her way to school have joined and endorsed the campaign.
The question most Nigerians would like to ask is this: Can tweets, likes, posts and selfies serve as a catalyst for social change? I will answer in the affirmative as the Arab Spring – though mismanaged – showed. Critics of online campaigns – and they are many – will be quick to tell us there is a high tendency to shift focus from the important issues of the campaign into the minor issues which serve as a distraction to the entire process.
I however don’t think so as I believe that the aim of the hashtags, tweets and picture is to keep the issue on the front burner by ensuring that enough buzz is generated so that it is not swept under the rug like most issues in the country.
Monitoring the news, I noticed that with this Boko Haram limelight comes an overwhelming global sympathy for the Nigerian citizens as the world comes to terms with the reality and the high level of ineptitude, insensitivity, insincerity and inefficiency of the Nigerian government in addressing the perennial and embarrassing insecurity in our midst.
As a historian, I know too well that the beginning of failure of a society – no matter how elaborately organized – is when it permits violent conflicts to continue unabated as a result of weak or ineffectual or ineffective leadership. This, sadly, is the Nigerian experience, from Boko Haram to herdsmen/farmers clash down to senseless ethnic frictions and confrontations that dots our unique landscapes.
And where do we place the blame for all these? It is simply a reflection of a failed leadership – both at the federal, state and local levels, but mainly on the shoulders of the federal government.
How more than 200 girls can be abducted unchallenged by these terrorists is beyond barbarity and incomprehensible. As if this is not enough humiliation, the ineptitude and floundering of the government are equally a worse crime against humanity. No responsible government anywhere in the world – except in Nigeria – folds its hands and watches its citizens butchered almost on a daily basis and merely wishes such an evil will go away sooner. A government which fails to protect its citizens, or demonstrates a true desire to do so, but merely smatters into diatribe and points fingers accusingly when it ought to be taking actions at the perpetrators of violence is as bad as the evil it refuses to fight, if not worse.
This highly embarrassing crisis has exposed the leadership failure in Nigeria to the entire world. The whole world is awestricken and dumbfounded by the inability of our government to muster the necessary courage to do what it is elected to do. The world is amazed at the glaring inefficiency of the government to fight corruption, tackle insecurity, curb incessant attacks by terrorists, and address the issues bedeviling its education, health and power sectors.
The world is alarmed at a government which waited till nearly three weeks after the kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls before it set up a “fact finding committee.” This was after it blundered and said the girls were rescued a few days after their abduction which turned out to be false. Do not forget that prior to now, 20 others girls were abducted and no one seems to be talking about their plight.
In other countries, security agencies, even if caught napping under similar circumstances, would have swung into action within hours, the Boston marathon bombing is a case in point where the perpetrators were identified and caught the same day. But in Nigeria, our security agencies regaled us with fictional tales of gallantry culminating in the rescue of the girls, when in actual fact, none had been rescued, save the handful that escaped on their own.
At the end of all this, do you know what my fears are? If the girls are eventually found and rescued I can bet you that they would be brought and celebrated at Aso Rock that is when you will see Nigerian sycophants in their elements. “Solidarity visits” from all parts of the country would commence “thanking” the President for having the “wisdom” of inviting the Americans and others to help rescue the girls. There would then be calls from all quarters for him to continue and finish the “good works” he has been doing. What a country!
