For Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, destiny beckons. All things being equal, Abuja would be hosting dignitaries from around the world when Asiwaju takes the mantle of leadership as successor to President Muhammadu Buhari. It is a universal truth that he has fulfilled all constitutional requirements to be called Mr. President as from May 29, 2023. INEC has issued the certificate to this effect, and President Buhari has inaugurated a 22-man transition committee to ensure a smooth transfer of power.
In his appraisal of the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, when the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, admonished the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to reach out to “the children of anger” to calm their frayed nerves, he was talking from a place of knowledge and experience, as he has often been at the receiving ends of the ‘Cancel Culture’ of this acerbic, unsparing mob that descends on their target with ferocity.
Days after El-Rufai’s advice, one of Nigeria’s billionaires and most notable faces in Africa socio-economic milieu, Tony Elumelu has come under ferocious attacks by the social media mob, who took huge umbrage as images and videos of Asiwaju’s visit to the sprawling mansion of Elumelu in Lagos found their way to the internet. Elumelu in the video was visibly excited as Asiwaju alighted from the SUV that took him to Elumelu.
Shouting “the last man standing” repeatedly in praise of Asiwaju and finally completing the encounter with
“this guy eh, 10 lives”, Elumelu showed he was impressed with Asiwaju’s intransigent, go-getting drive against all obstacles mounted before him in his quest to be Nigeria’s president.
No sooner had Elumelu posted on his Instagram account images of him welcoming Asiwaju into his home with the caption “Last night, I was honoured to receive the Nigerian President-elect III @officialasiwajubat at my home. We discussed ways in which the incoming administration must empower and support our immensely talented Nigerian youth. We have so much young potential to unleash” than a number of the same youths unleashed mayhem on his page, calling him all sorts of unprintable names, as they register their grievance against him.
The visibly angry youths took turns to tear into Elumelu with snide remarks, abusive expressions and imputations that attempted to impugn the integrity of the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, United Bank for Africa and Transcorps Plc for associating with Asiwaju whose victory at the poll has continued to attract global acclaims and congratulations from world leaders and business magnates in Nigeria and beyond.
Reacting angrily to the posts, an Instagram User with the handle ‘lincolnbillz00’ wrote, “You’ve just lost another customer in your bank” on Elumelu’s wall.
‘ambassador.ofpeace’ lived in breach of his or her name with “Tony you should be ashamed of yourself.”
‘uche316’ wrote “Only your president elect. Are you happy with what APC has brought Nigeria to. Your business men are always quick to dance with the devil regardless of the truth. Don’t stain your legacy. You are an honorable person.”
‘tedben_’ claimed “It’s all about the money for you Sir. We know that. That’s how you and Obasanjo sold bought all our national assets in the name of privatization. You benefit more from Nigeria’s corruption. You are smooth but you ain’t clean. We know you.”
Like many others, ‘ovicshoppers’ disputed the certain victory of Asiwaju at the pole when he or she wrote, “Sorry sir, he’s not Nigeria president elect; na Inec president elect!!! No be we vote am in”
The Twitter space also had its share of the onslaught on the person of Elumelu.
Tamani with the handle ‘@UncleTamanii’ said, “I’m canceling Tony Elumelu, I will tell my dad to quit his job at UBA, all my family members will boycott using UBA accounts henceforth, I will stop sending money to anybody that uses UBA cOs WTF.”
Bigwig Austin with the handle ‘@aai austin’ stated “Tony Elumelu’s brother Ndudi Elumelu of PDP lost HOR election to an LP candidate in Delta state.
He is taking his pound of flesh so ignore the picture.”
