Nigeria’s president orders supporters to stop using #BringBackGoodluck2015 [amended]

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http://twitter.com/#!/MiaFarrow/status/509709991822245888

Oh dear:

http://twitter.com/#!/TheEIU_Africa/status/509646027809636352

President Jonathan has since ordered his supporters to stop using the hashtag:

http://twitter.com/#!/BBCAfrica/status/509714655674388480

More via BBC.com:

The hashtag #BringBackGoodluck2015 seems to have first been used on Twitter by a group campaigning on behalf of the president. On 30th August, they tweeted: “There is no vacancy in Aso rock [the president’s palace] we want Goodluck Jonathan again #NigeriansDemand #BringBackJonathan2015.”

The slogan was widely criticised because it seemed to dramatically misread the public mood in the country. The abducted school girls are still held captive, despite repeated promises by the government – and President Jonathan himself – to secure their release. So far, the government has not taken military steps to rescue the girls, arguing that if force is used, they may end up being killed by the militants.

A major backlash against the hashtag soon emerged, as people took to Twitter to label it as insensitive. It has appeared more than 2,800 times in the last 24 hours, and the vast majority been used to criticise the slogan.

Yikes. More:

http://twitter.com/#!/MetropoleMag/status/509733613077024769
http://twitter.com/#!/AndyMadaki/status/509662841436401664
http://twitter.com/#!/MrAyeDee/status/509651762308210689
http://twitter.com/#!/doyinokupe/status/502835099902410752

Here’s just a sample of the criticism:

http://twitter.com/#!/Barry_Roux/status/509233770365734912
http://twitter.com/#!/FemiOke/status/509340485614596097

Editor’s note: This post has been amended and updated with additional tweets and text for purposes of clarity. Additionally, a tweet that could be construed as promoting violence was removed for clarity’s sake.

 

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2014/09/10/you-wont-believe-the-disgusting-re-election-hashtag-for-nigerias-goodluck-jonathan/

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