By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
A campaign to make former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu trend on Twitter, has suffered a setback as the hashtag was turned against the presidential ambition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader.
#TinubuIsKey started to trend on social media today, March 29, as a way of promoting the presidential ambition of the APC strongman who is celebrating his 69th birthday on the same day with a colloquium in Kano.
Those behind the #TinubuIsKey are social media influencers and celebrities who offer their followers money or internet data once they retweet or post #TinubuIsKey with a comment.
The continuous repetition of #TinubuIsKey will automatically give the hashtag a huge mention which is then picked by the Twitter algorithm to make it a trend.
Prominent among the promoters include veteran film actress, Tonto Dikeh, who has 1.5 million followers on Twitter. By promising her fans giveaways if they retweet the hashtag, the mention for #TinubuIsKey will naturally be huge.
Tonto Dikeh asked her fans if N40,000 would be enough for their expenses this week by tweeting #TinubuIsKey so that she could make the cash transfers to them. She, however, deleted the tweet, perhaps because of the backlash from many young Nigerians who said Tinubu was only a key to their stomach.
Other celebrities either promised N5,000 to their lucky fans who get picked or a 5GB worth of internet data.
But many Nigerians reacted angrily to the giveaway, accusing the social media influencers and celebrities who are doing the #TinubuIsKey giveaway as part of the problem of Nigeria.
@JFNaija said: “#TinubuIsKey to what exactly? Oh key to oppression and extortion of the masses that is. Nonsense!”
@adekoladammy said: “They have so weaponized poverty that with give away, they know they can win your loyalty. This is just a sample of what to expect come 2023. #TinubuIsKey“
@jeremiahAbrahB said: “The way this country is moving, we might all just die one day… With insecurity, hunger and corruption, some influencers are promoting #TinubuIsKey.”
@Lapetney said: We like suffer in this country. 2023 never reach we’re already giving Tinubu license. Somebody that should be agemate with my grandfather. Person wey gets nation at heart suppose rest at this age. #TinubulsKey“
