by Sola Fasasi

We want to assume that you already know, in detail, the kerfuffle over Idris Okuneye (Bobrisky) speaking at a New Media Conference – organized by Enough is Enough Nigeria, BudgIT and Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, happening tomorrow in Abuha.

In case you have been living under a rock, here is a quick re-cap.

The debate turns on the question: is he qualified to speak in an event about New Media and Citizens.

We found these three arguments in a comment section, and we found them quite illuminating:

There is this one against – no he should not be there:

Engoz October 26, 2016 at 5:43 pm

This is not discrimination or intolerance. The speakers must have had the impression that they were going to participate in intellectual discourse. In intellectual settings you do not introduce a Bobrisky into a mix with intellectuals. You will be embarrassed. Unless you are seeking to make fun of him when technical terms are being thrown across the room. If I were Bobrisky I would reject the invitation on that premise and also like Subomi I will reject the invitation if I am representing my company name. It’s a different thing if this were informal settings of which I will surely engage Bobrisky in conversation if it were. But it is not informal. This obviously was not intended to be an intellectual formal conference. The organizers should apologize to the other speakers for making it appear so.

There is this one for – yes, he absolutely should:

Ife October 26, 2016 at 6:25 pm 
Wow you were in the brain of the organizers to know it want intended to be an intellectual conference ! What is intellect ? How do we learn ? If we always learn from what is perfect where is the role of the imperfect . In every area of life we have to be wholistic to give a proper review of things !!! How does the good and bad work ? That’s the question we should find answers to !!! First how does the bad work ? What lessons can we learn from the bad to create awareness for the good !!! We all need to educate our minds and create room for what ifs and like I said she also had a right not to attend but she really didn’t need to mention Bob risky’s name !!!

And then there is this one that ties it all up in a neat bow:

I personally think Bobrisky is the most qualified speaker of the event based on the fact that the conference is about leveraging new media to gain publicity and how it would influence the populace. He certainly knows more about practical and organic brand building than any of the other speakers, The mere fact that those who hate his guts knows his name shows that he is an expert brand builder, entrepreneurs and brand managers can learn from him…but our people will always join religious bigotry and “I better pass you” sentiments to everything they do….good luck to everybody.

YWriter