An environmentalist who is a professor of Geography at the Modibbo Adama University (MAU) Yola, Mallam Bashir Abubakar Bashir has warned against the misuse of social media platforms by some elements attacking and disparaging leaders.
He said constructive criticism is a very important component of a perfect Democracy but is somehow abused by some youths.
According to him the Youths are only good at insulting, attacking, and disrespecting leaders which are not the norms enshrined both in our customs and democracy as the adopted form of Nigeria’s system of governance.
“I always advise people, especially the younger generation to desist from abusing/insulting/disrespecting leaders at all levels in the name of Democracy.
“Constructive criticism is a very important component of good governance, however when somebody criticizes blindly without facts and figures when someone called the name of a leader to pour much vituperation then this becomes something else and not Democracy,” Bashir said
He said the social media has been much perforated with undue attacks on the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu, and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Candidates over their 2023 presidential aspirations.
“Under whatever circumstance the Excellent Value of Respect to our Elders/Leaders should not be thrown to the winds. In the current dispensation, Tinubu and Atiku, and others are contesting, they are all leaders in their own right. A single person can’t support all of them, every one of us supports one of them. But that doesn’t mean we should personally abuse/insult/ disrespect the candidate that we are not supporting- this doesn’t add any value to the person or candidature of our preferred candidate. And our younger generation should know that shortly, nobody will be looking for a written reference from anybody to engage you in whatever form, but your Activities on Social media platforms such as FCBK ( which is permanent and indelible) will be used as your reference.” Bashir said
Abdullahi who is also a social media influencer took his Facebook Wall and stressed the need for Nigeria Youths to know much about what is constructive criticism for the sake of our nascent Democracy, not to use social media as a means of attack or settling scores of differences.
