The Washington Post has criticised President Goodluck Jonathan for the #BringBackJonathan2015 campaign which is perceived to mock the #BringBackOurGirls campaign launched to create awareness for the release of over 200 Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram.
The controversial hashtag is believed to have been created by Dr Doyin Okupe, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Jonathan through his twitter handle on August 22 before campaign banners bearing the same hashtag were put up in strategic places in Abuja.
The Washington Post said in article posted on its website that “It was the social media campaign of the year. #BringBackOurGirls awoke the world to the ravages of Boko Haram, an al-Qaeda-linked terror group in Nigeria, and the plight of the millions of people who live in the midst of their insurgency. At the heart of the message were hundreds of missing schoolgirls, abducted in April from the remote village of Chibok by Boko Haram fighters, who vowed to make them into slaves. The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag channelled both sympathy from abroad and local outrage and concern in Nigeria, with many angry at the government of President Goodluck Jonathan for being unable to free the captured women.
“But four months later, the girls have yet to be brought back despite the efforts of the Nigerian military as well as U.S. counter-terrorism forces deployed in neighboring Chad. More than 200 girls remain missing in suspected Boko Haram captivity. Others have perished from snakebite, illness and deprivation in the wild.”
It further said that “But the gravity of the moment hasn’t stopped some in Nigeria from appropriating the tragic hashtag for rather cynical purposes. Banners emerged in the capital Abuja over the weekend showing Jonathan alongside a new slogan: #BringBackGoodluck2015. The campaign appears to be the work of supporters of the president, keen for his reelection in presidential polls next February. It’s not clear whether Jonathan has officially endorsed the new hashtag, but its seeming ubiquity suggests that he is not opposed to it.”
However, the president has since ordered the stoppage of the use of the hashtag and removal of the banners bearing it.
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