by Ayomide Ekerin

I feel sorry for Lai. Sometimes I picture his face whenever Nigerians take him to the cleaners on social media concerning something he said—or didn’t say. I see him with a bemused face just like the popular meme of Yoruba actor, Odunlade Adekola, wondering why he must always be the scapegoat of this administration.

You see, when it comes to Lai, we don’t let sleeping dogs lie. Hasn’t he always “Laied” to us? When I heard about the recent bomb blasts that rocked the University of Maiduguri, I remembered his famous statement in 2015,  “Today, I can report that the war against Boko Haram is largely won. Today, I can report to you that the entire 70 plus kilometres stretch from Maiduguri to Bama and all the way to Banki which leads to Cameroun and the Central African Republic are in the hands of our gallant troops. They have so degraded the capacity of Boko Haram that the terrorists can no longer hold on to any territory just as they can no longer carry out any spectacular attack.”

Let him ask the family of the guard who was killed by the bombs detonated by suicide bombers at UNIMAID if the attack was spectacular. He has given us more lines than we can remember.

So when news broke that Lai, once again, fibbed, this time, allegedly saying that President Muhammadu Buhari was taking Nigerian-made drugs in London, we all aimed our stones at him, big and small. How could he? How could he “Lai” to us so? What did he take us for? We gave him a piece of our minds and enjoyed ourselves in the process. Our sense of humour at such a time as this is amazing; one that is for us and by us. Social media went berserk with memes and dope lines all aimed at Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Then suddenly, Channels TV came to rain on our parade. Not that we noticed, though. We were too much into our campaign to feel the splash. The guys at Channels denied having any interview with the Minister, where he made such statement. In other words, Naij’s report was false. The social media noise had been for no reason.

We crucified an “innocent” man. It won’t be the first or the last time. In fact, we will still continue talking about it in our living rooms, in beer parlours and on social media.

“Hey! Did you see what Lai Mohammed said about Buhari using Nigerian drugs in London?” “That man can lie ehn.”

However, this is not about Uncle Lai. God knows he has told us so many “Laies” already. This is about us. This is about us swallowing everything we see anywhere on the internet, hook, line and sinker. This is about our struggle to be relevant on social media, so we jump on trends without confirming them. That is the major reason we all pounced on Lai. Yes, the internet is the hub of new, and yes, real news break by the second on social media. But the true mark of an enlightened media user in this day and age is the ability to distinguish the news from the noise.