A former presidential aide, Mr Reno Omokri has said the disposition of an “average core northerner” is that social media is indecent.
Omokri, who served as a media aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, however said the disposition was not borne out of deprivation but rather by choice.
His submission was in reaction to a statement by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar that 90 per cent of northerners are not on social media.
Atiku made the statement in an interview with Arise TV aired while reacting to the momentum that the presidential candidate of Labour Party Peter Obi enjoys among young people on social media.
The former presidential aide insisted that the northerners see Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and the likes as indecent platforms but rather concentrate on conventional media.
” The average core Northerner, rightly or wrongly, sees social media as an indecent place where their minds will be corrupted by ungodly things.
” So they tend to avoid social media, in preference for radios. However, it does not make you and I more informed than them!” Omokri said.
“Northerners chose to retain their quotidian simple way of life by choice. While we in the South have largely embraced Western culture, they chose to stick with their precolonial culture
” That 90% of them are not on social media is a matter of choice, not deprivation,” Omokri said.
He added that, ” Almost every working class Northerner in the Northwest has a small portable transistor radio. It is their essential life tool. They get their news from BBC Hausa.
“Research this. BBC Hausa has 18 million unique listeners every week. VOA Hausa service reaches a combined weekly audience of 21 million. Another 10 million a week listen to DW Hausa. That is more than the number of Nigerians on Twitter and Instagram combined. A lot of these folk who have issue with the ‘90%’ assertion live in a social media echo chamber and think there is no life outside Twitter.
“You trend on Twitter and it gets to your head and you begin to insult Waziri Atiku Abubakar, and boast that your candidate will win on February 25, 2023. Do you know how many Nigerians are not on Twitter? 190 million. You saw those humongous crowds that came to see Buhari in Kano? They listen to BBC, VOA and DW Hausa service!
“This does not mean they are not on the Internet. This does not also mean that they are not educated. You can be educated and have access to the Internet, without being on social media. They are not mutually exclusive. Take time to understand the North, because they understand you!