Daily Post Nigeria
Published
As someone who grew up in the north, I am very much at home to discuss this burning topic which has become inevitable with the needless stoking of the embers of divisiveness by the information Minister Lai Muhammed, Senior media assistant to the President Garba Shehu and a motley crowd of religious extremists who carpeted the Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Sokoto Reverend Doctor Mathew Hassan Kukah over a Christmas Day message.
This is the kernel of the message: “Annus Mirabilis or Annus Horribilis? The roads to the graveyards are busier than those to the farms. Amidst the wails and laments, I hear the congregants saying; the world is coming to an end, it has never been so bad. Yes, people are dying, but they are not dying more now than they did in recent years. It is the social media and its connectivity that has given us a sense of greater urgency and added to our seeming despair with the way things are. The social media is value neutral. It depends on what we make of it. Its instantaneous impact is often times dizzyingly traumatic, but the other benefits more than compensate. In a way, the choices we make will help us decide whether this year is our annus mirabilis or annus horribilis.”