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med who spoke at a Colloquium organized by the National Coalition of Apostolic Leaders in Lagos that day: “Everyday, this group of people deliberately distort our messages while also suffusing the atmosphere with their own version of information, “We are aware that it is not just enough to do something, you must be seen to be doing it. In other words, the activities of government are as important as communicating them. That is why this Administration places much premium on communicating with the people.” Interestingly, at the 4th Commonwealth Public Relations Congress also held in Lagos on 20 November 2016, minister Mohammed again lamented over how the use of social media is a “nightmare” to PR and image makers like himself and his clients, President Muhammadu Buhari. He said: “Today, anyone with access to a smart phone can put out any information, whether accurate or not, that could go viral in minutes. “No fact-checking, no accuracy, no fairness, no rules. They just spread whatever information catches their fancy, and they have their own public that believes them.” By now, it was clear that the Federal Government was seeking for a way to kill, or at least reduce the quantity of activities and influence of social media. Days later, Nigerians got the information via their respective data operators that the NCC has forced them to increase data prices from December 1. This is the fastest way the President Muhammadu Buhari-led FG deemed possible to harm social media, the same tool they rode its propaganda machine to get elected about 20 months ago. The Federal Government thinks it’s possible to silence its “poor” critics on social media by hiking data prices and reducing their Internet usage, thereby, creating an enabling environment for the “rich” class (who purportedly won’t criticize them) to use social media alone. We are watching. Somtoo Okoye is the founder of Somtoo Okoye blog

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