The Minister of Works and former governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, was in the news for the better part of last week, as he was pilloried by some Nigerian youths for discovering a “mystery camcorder” at the Lekki Toll Plaza, after many rounds of cleaning. They’d insinuated that the camcorder was not only planted but part of the game plan by the government to decimate the facts of the alleged Lekki shooting by soldiers.
But, how about getting a bit experimental? First off, Fashola was not at the scene alone or by accident. He was there on a visit with some of his colleagues from the federal executive cabinet and governors. Two, there were media representatives from all over the country, many of whom had arrived the scene before the visitors.
Therefore, while the social media, as it is typical, had gone on overdrive, literally making a joke of the scene as though it was impossible, not one of the media representatives had come up to give a more critical account of what really happened, but almost pandering to the social media sentiments, all of which were lacking, both in substance and sound reasoning.
Above all, assuming the camcorder was critical to unraveling the answers to the many Lekki questions, how has it as evidence been tampered with? A camcorder was found, picked up with a piece of cloth and handed over to the authority, what was out of place in that? Sadly, they were quick to first question the possibility of discovering anything in the place after several cleanings. That belies logic.
Two, they queried the fact that Fashola almost had a piece of cloth waiting to be used. Does it not sound pedestrian? And now, you’re claiming evidence had been tampered with. How? Was the camcorder opened or viewed at the scene? Was the content edited there? Was it picked up with bare hands? Just how exactly was evidence tampered with?
Whatever it is, the herd mentality of the social media space has shown to be of no serious value to any content debate and this particular incident is not an exception. After all, the social media has proven to be as much a blessing and a curse, perhaps, in equal measures. And to ‘Agent Fash’, well done!
