The month of August may be coming to an end but it has seen Nigerians witness some achievements in the socio-political space; subtly but remarkably so in the Twitter sphere through social media activism. With what has seemed to come a whirlwind of hashtags over time, the month of August 2018 just like monthly themes in churches can be pinned as a month of hashtags breaking through, hence discovering the true power of social media activism. What I’d like to call “The Power of Hashtags”.
Growing up in the 90s, the month of August was popularly referred to as August break. This is because the month of August coincided with meteorology of the short dry break in August in the southern part of Nigeria, which is a short dry season for two to three weeks when the rains would take a break, to return in September. It also coincides with the calendar year of schools being closed for holidays and therefore workers and children taking a break from school activities indicating relaxation and holiday-making.
We can say the seasons of the year have minds of their own these days.
Just like relaxation and breaks in August, there is a five-minute Power Break developed by Dr Phil Maffetone. Postulated as a powerful technique to balancing key aspects of your body and brain, the Power Break is a healthy break to reduce stress and energize one in order to get the most of your day. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk was also reported in 2012 to have a special strategy of breaking his day into series of 5-minute slots in order to balance his time and achieve major productivity.
This article takes on wordplay of the 2 words “Power” and “Break” in stringing series of events and happenings in the Nigerian socio-political sphere hinged on tech and much more.
August break 2018
On August 7th Nigeria’s democracy was claimed to be on the verge of despair when Nigerians woke up to the news of the National Assembly under siege as officials from Department of State Security (DSS) invaded the National Assembly complex, preventing some lawmakers’ entry into the complex. It is also noted that this occurred during the 2-month recess. Social media was awash with hashtags #DSSInvationofNASS and #SaveOurDemocracy amidst conversations and reports surrounding this act, gaining global attention and ultimately leading to the sack of the DSS boss by the Acting President.
To arguably the most prominent social movement which has dominated an appreciable level of conversations among Nigerian youth on social media since 2017, the #EndSARS campaign. On August 14th 2018, the campaign against police brutality amidst other human rights concern finally got a long overdue responsive action from Nigerian authority – an overhaul of the management and activities of the squad as directed by the Vice President in capacity of the Acting President. While this was received in good faith by Nigerians, two major highlights of this action were taken into cognizance by critics and observers at large:
First, it was done by the Vice-President … Why? Because the President was away on a 10-day vacation. A much-needed break. The #EndSARS campaign however is still far from over as convener and activist Segun Awosanya @segalink alongside others still push to achieve more.
On Wednesday August 15th, the day after, this theme of hashtag breakthroughs would continue with the release on bail of Journalist Jones Abiri who had been in detention in Nigeria for over 2 years. With the detention of Abiri, a hashtag #FreeJonesAbiri trended to this effect. These set examples of social media activism would reinforce the hashtag for the release of journalist Samuel Ogundipe #FreeSamuelOgundipe who had also been detained in police custody for days and released on August 17th for allegedly the same reasons as Jones Abiri of failing to reveal their sources.
Away from politics and on a much lighter note…
August Rush
Anyone familiar with a commonly used and rather unpleasant terminology in Federal and State Owned Universities in Nigeria especially back in the day, would know the term “October Rush”. This largely referred to the earmarked calendar year where there was an influx of freshmen into the Universities. This indicated the opportunity for older students in these Universities to scout these freshmen.
In year 2018 however and in contrast with the August breaks, October Rush may have come two months earlier as a slang which has trended in the last couple of weeks of August has nothing to do with taking breaks. In fact, in encourages for a continuous flow: “Na dem dey rush us”. This phrase has been creatively worked on by Nigerians in creating a viral trend.
While some people are being rushed, some people are rushing others. In any way, there is a type of rush involved.
VAR serving needs beyond the World Cup
This story would be incomplete without the discovery and breakthrough of a new Twitter handle “Twitta VAR”. Set up in January of this year with posts far between the months of January and February that seemed rather inconsistent, the Twitta VAR page would come full circle in the month of August.
Twitta VAR borrows the concept from the highly controversial and newly introduced technology at the Russia World Cup 2018 – the Video Assistant Referee. With referees at the tournament taking a momentary break to consult with the VAR whenever there was a dispute as to the appropriate line of action to be taken regarding an alleged offence, Twitta VAR works in that line of cheeky investigation and interference in literally bringing you the “facts” behind tweets and pictures posted online.
Attracting a massive followership grossing 18.7k followers in just one month, Twitta VAR is dedicated to one thing “preventing Twitter from turning into IG” as seen in the profile.
With Twitta VAR, no one is safe. So, whenever you see this sign, you already know.
With a few days left till the end of the month of August, perhaps more ground-breaking stories and events will be recorded. I’m forced to wonder though. Did the month of August truly come with a few breaks that necessitated some breakthroughs or was it all just fortuitous?
I understand that you might be reading this on your return from the Sallah break. So, welcome back.
In rounding off, it is Friday and so it’s time for a break from the week.
Have a great weekend!
Photo sources: Google, Pinterest, REUTERS/Fred Prouser, Facebook
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