I turned off connection for my Facebook and Twitter (now X) for over a year so I can have peace of mind and stable mental health. I was getting too emotionally and mentally troubled by the social media comments of Nigerians over some of the protests I have been part of between 2020 and last year.
I have a junior colleague and other workers at close range from the University who say, till tomorrow, that there were no killings at Lekki or anywhere in Lagos in 2020. This was despite the fact that Pelumi Onifade, a journalist and year one student of TASUED was killed by a Lagos politician in that protest. I was frequent at the panel with the late Barrister Adesina Ademola Ogunlana and Ayo Ademiluyi. For a week, I was sleeping at the chamber of the former because he would pick me up every morning from there while heading to Lekki.
So when I read comments saying Lekki and Lagos massacre did not happen, it messes up my mental health. Particularly when I remember that the government was so coordinated in the attack that they arranged their own hoodlums to cause chaos and then blame it on those of us organizing the action.
I was going to be a victim and perhaps might still be behind bars till now. Some politicians had orchestrated the plan to send hoodlums to burn down a popular hotel in Ijebu Ode. The hotel belongs to a Senator, I heard. The plan was that after burning it down, they will frame me up for it. Incidentally, a Professor from the Tai Solarin University of Education, TASUED was put in the know. The Professor called me, saying that he heard I was leading people to burn down the hotel, adding that, it is a trap. He actually thought I was truly convinced to lead the attack. I told him I was not aware and just getting up from my hideout to start the day’s action.
I appreciated him and called all my close comrades to inform them. Particularly Oyefade Oluwaseun Opeyemi and Oluwabunmi Michael Awoyemi. The latter was Olabisi Onabajo University, OOU Students’ Union President, whom we both stood at the front of the struggle. Later that evening, I was informed about how two of ex-TASUED student leaders led some people to meet the king’s, that, they were the face of the struggle and would quench it. I do not want to mention these two people, but I confronted them both. They could not deny. They were settled with money. They championed the blackmail to demobilize the protest. Not only that, but they had other plans with the police to forcefully disperse us. I told the OOU president about it, and we retreated. Comrade Eko John Nicholas was one other person I confided in about this situation.
The #EndBadGovernance of 2024 was another story on its own. While I was not in the country at that point, I was one of the social media Coordinators of the protest. I received sensitive information from the barricade. People whom I never knew and did not know me from different parts of the country, sharing with me the situation with their protest grounds. I dealt with information that messed with my head. How can a government organize violence against her own people who are simply demanding better welfare?
I was back in the country on the 28th of September last year. It was a Saturday. I knew I had something to deal with the state due to the way the immigration officers at the airport questioned me with their countenance. So I decided not to go home straight.
The next Tuesday was October 1st. I would be at the protest. By Monday morning, I received a Court order from different friends and associates via my WhatsApp. My name appeared on the list of protesters restricted by Ogun State Government to certain areas. This only convinced me that I remained on the watch list even while I was out of the country. A list I have been on since 2017, at least. But I joined the protest anyway.
But the rundown of comments on social media by Nigerians was dealing with me mentally. At first, I thought they were pseudo accounts created by the media boys of the ruling party until I started seeing people I know in real life defending these state atrocities and blackmailing those of us in the Take It Back movement, TiB; African Action Congress, AAC; Socialist Workers League, SWL, and other left organizations. So I decided to turn off connection for my Facebook and Twitter. I could no longer bear the emotional and mental trauma.
The death of my leader, Abiodun Aremu, made me turn on the connection. I needed to write down my tribute to him and make it a memory here. I did not turn it off afterward. Furthermore, I wanted to wait until the end of the #FreeNnamdiKanu protest led by Omoyele Sowore.
I have seen different comments mocking Sowore, the Take It Back Movement, and the entire Left community. The same suffering Nigerians, mocking us. And the state-sponsored propaganda against #EndSARS memorial. How do Nigerians accept this and try to alter history?
Nigerians are seriously in love with their oppressors and battling psychological defeat. Many of them are defending these atrocities, hoping that one day they will benefit from it.
I woke up now only to see on Adeyeye Olorunfemi and Adebayo ‘Da Cube’ Adedeji status, the crackdown on people in Oworonshoki. How can a government confidently demolish hundreds of houses, displace thousands of citizens just to be able to build Ocean view estate for its cronies? Yet, Nigerians insult those of us calling out these crimes and call us attention seekers. What kind of population of human beings watches their fellow humans being dehumanized and rendered homeless and not join to resist? But the same Nigerians hated Fela Kuti and rejected Gani Fawehinmi at the poll. I will have to go back to my social media hibernation. My mental health is important.
26.10.2025
Soneye LAS, a teacher, PhD candidate, and revolutionary, writes in from Kasel, Germany.