The Ejigbo saga: The power of social media

There is the saying that ‘injustice any where is injustice everywhere.’ In this light, The Ejigbo market saga makes this assertion ever more relevant in our collective consciousness. As Nigerians and the rest of  world saw the horrific video of man’s inhumanity to man, many have drawn their own conclusion to this event depending on which ever side of the divide you may stand. To this end therefore, the main thrust of this piece is to remind us that social media is truly a potent tool to fight injustice wherever we find it.

When Aristotle declared that ……man without law is but a beast unto man….. He was not only talking about the nature of man as it were but also describing the way man ought to function in a just and equitable society using the instrumentality of the Law as that parameter to guide her behaviour.

In today’s modern society, Nigeria in particular and Africa in general, the Law still functions as described above. But a lot will agree that the same Law meant for every one seems not to hold certain powerful oligarchy accountable when they do wrong. Therefore bringing the question again, is the Law the last resort of the ordinary man who feels injustice has been done to him?

This is where the Ejigbo saga once again reminds us all that injustice can be done, but can also be corrected because we are all watching and saying this thing is wrong through the instrumentality of the social media. The social media is gradually becoming a very potent platform for people to state their case and let the world be the judge.  The Ejigbo drama tells it all that the police would have paid lip service to this case but for the persistent attitude Nigerians who saw those victims de-humanize beyond imagination and they all came out in mass calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice using the various available social media platform to air their views, hence the police could not keep silent any more even the IG, the Lagos state House of Assembly all came out in strong condemnation of this event. This is not to say that the various women NGOs did not do their job but that the social media was even at the forefront in pushing their fight making it more relevant.

Africa has been a place where so many atrocities are committed and kept in the dark all in the name of cultures with both victims bearing the scars and perpetrators walking free. This cannot be the case anymore; people must be courageous enough to tell the world what is going wrong in their neighbourhood. All they require is just a click away and the world will hear your story.

The social media will be more powerful only if we use it to tell the truth and those who love to be in the dark will remain in the dark because they cannot stand the power of light for where there is light, justice can be found……….this is what the social media brings with it.