Social media misuse threatens peaceful political coexistence – Hafizu Kawu
Hafizu Kawu, former House of Representatives member for Tarauni, recently organized a Media Summit in Kano to address social media misuse in politics and foster peaceful coexistence among political actors.
In this interview, he explains the initiative’s purpose and impact.
Q1: You recently organized a Two-Day Summit. Can you tell us what the summit intend to achieve?
Hafizu Kawu: All praises be to The Almighty, our Creator, and The Creator of the universe. Looking at the happenings around the use and handling of social media in relation to our political engagement in the land, I sat down with my media people, the Hafizu Kawu Media Team, and came up with the idea of organizing this Summit.
The aim was to use the platform to sanitize political engagement, particularly in areas where people with different political leanings coexist. It is through such engagements that we can cleanse the system and promote healthy political discussions.
When you look at it critically, even the advent of social media came on board to promote good and respectful relationships, making communication faster, easier, and more effective. It is not meant to wreak havoc or damage people’s personalities.
Unfortunately, some politicians use social media to defame others, spread hate speech, belittle political opponents, and sometimes promote violence—actions that are abhorred by our religious beliefs. That is why we engaged Islamic clerics to reshape the thinking of our people while collaborating with other stakeholders. Let people know how grave a sin defamation is, among many other rejected behaviors.
We invited politicians from different parties, media and communication experts like Prof. Abdallah Uba Adamu, and lawyers to educate our social media users about the reasons behind the advent of social media, its uses, challenges, and offenses related to its misuse.
We found it necessary to promote peaceful coexistence between politicians and their social media teams. Through such efforts, people are reminded that politics, good neighborhood, and brotherhood are different things. Politics can stop when you disengage from it, but can that stop you from being brothers and sisters? The answer is no.
Some people think the only way to relate is through abuses and spreading unpalatable statements, which is not good at all. That is why we decided to sit back and come up with this Summit to reshape, reengineer, and reroute thoughts.
Q2: What is your assessment of public reaction to the event?
Hafizu Kawu: The Summit was organized with the genuine intention of cleansing social media usage, strengthening political relationships, sustaining healthy political discussions, creating public awareness about responsibilities attached to social media, and understanding our religious position on peaceful coexistence, especially regarding political opposition.
The event was fruitful and engaging. Many people called to congratulate us on this new strategy. Some even complained about not being included. All praises be to Allah, the event was widely circulated, and we were amazed by the number of people identifying with the project.
Many acknowledged that this initiative is the first of its kind, where social media users attached to politicians from different political inclinations came together to discuss long-standing societal issues.
Some suggested that future events should include security agencies and political leaders to further mend fences caused by social media misuse among political parties. They also called for widening the scope of this idea to make it more inclusive.
Q3: A renowned scholar, Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil, Professor Abdallah Uba Adamu, politicians, and legal experts participated. How do you feel about this?
Hafizu Kawu: Yes, I am glad to hear that we are the first to organize such a program. We are excited and grateful that people learned about freedom of information, freedom of speech, and their limitations.
Technical skills and knowledge were imparted to social media users and attendees. Politicians were also excited about it. Some people even expressed interest in replicating the initiative in their areas, from the ward level upwards.
In politics, opposition is allowed. However, one must know the legal provisions for engaging with opponents in a decent and healthy way. Without opposition, leaders may not know where they went wrong. This event trained people on how to engage opponents positively on social media.
I call on politicians to continue organizing such events for peaceful democratic development and to sanitize social media space and content.
Q4: How do you predict the future of our political practices and development with social media usage?
Hafizu Kawu: It is clear that social media is the future of our societies. It touches every corner like forest fire. It has come to stay, no matter what. All we need is to get the best out of it.
People now rely more on social media than traditional modes of communication like television. Even here in the North, radio is still popular, but one can access radio stations through smartphones.
Q5: Where do you see the media’s role in this?
Hafizu Kawu: I am calling on media organizations to join us in cleansing the system, particularly regarding social media usage. It is our collective responsibility to make communication saner, healthier, and more responsible.
Although it is not an easy task, especially with youth engaging heavily in social media, awareness campaigns are critical. Leaders must strive to give attention to social media for governance and development. This Summit was aimed at creating such awareness, and we hope it will be impactful.