SOCIAL MEDIA: THE PLACE OF THE MOB AND THE MASSES (Being the Contribution of Governor Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola to the “#LETSGOSOCIAL: BEST PRACTICES FROM NIGERIA’S MOST SOCIAL PERSONALITIES” Project.)
Between 2009 and 2014, a period of more than five years, I have been active online and the tremendous impact of social media for me is unquantifiable. As a politician, I discovered that the Crème de la crème of Nigeria’s enlightened youth population have been active participants on the social media, shaping and influencing outcome of many social policies of governments. The social media mob is one constituency with a compelling voice that could carry the gospel of change to the grassroots, for effective mobilization of the masses, who never had access to the internet. If you don’t want to be lynched by the rule-of-the-mob, the first place to be is on social media. To identify with the frustration of the intelligentsia, and arrest their attention for an attractive programme of change is my purpose for going social. Just as mobilization of our people is impossible without education, so is education of the youth online through social media indispensable. It is the educated and enlightened youth who will in turn, with zeal and conviction, mobilize the masses of our people for desired change. Social media mobilization helped me in my quest and campaign for justice against vote-robbers who stole my mandate in 2007 Governorship election… and, thanks to God and the mobilized masses, we got our mandate back in 2010. Social media helped me in effective governance and cut down bureaucracy and red-tape in governance by 50% between 2011 to 2014, during my first term, as Governor of the
State of Osun. The masses communicate freely with me on the platform of social media and bring urgent matters of governance to my attention. I spend a minimum average of 5 hours (night and day) online daily feeling the pulse of the governed and responding to acute needs of the masses in my State. Social media, amongst others, was in the forefront of our social weaponry of battle for re-election this year 2014, and thank God and the masses we reached out to, our mandate was resoundingly renewed at the polls last August. To ignore the potency of social media in this digital century is like taking fish out of water. A digital generation cannot survive and prosper without digital communication, and that is what social media has done for me in governance and politics in the last 5-6 years of my involvement. Speaking directly to 58,000+ followers on Twitter and 200,000+ followers on Facebook, as well as receiving instantaneous feedback from them is a gratifying experience in digital grassroots democracy. I am eternally indebted first, to God, and also to the mass of followers on social media who made our campaign go viral. I am much more indebted to the poor masses that have no access to internet but effectively respond to our message of change and mobilization from door-to-door and community-to-community, across our land.
Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola (Sgd.) Governor, State of Osun, Nigeria.