Mr Lukmon Ebun Oloyede, also known as Olaiya Igwe, has been called out yet again by Nigerian netizens. In the first instance, he was seen prostrating before Alhaji Musiliu MC Oluomo, the chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, in a viral video after receiving a car from him (MC Oluomo). The incident was reported by news media, and netizens rebuked him several times on digital platforms, claiming that he disrespected himself by prostrating for the chairman of the ‘ordinary transport union’ out of materialism.
The most recent call came after netizens discovered a naked video of him praying for the victory of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate for the 2023 presidential election. As our analyst stated in the previous piece, cancelling is one of the concepts associated with cancel culture, which indicates the continuous call out of prominent people or brands as the culture’s object continues to unfold.
Similar to how Olaiya Igwe’s prostration event was extensively covered by the news media, in recent days, both legacy and new media outlets across the nation have been reporting the nude video using various frames. The Nollywood actor has damaged the reputation of the film industry for some organizations. He has also reiterated that his true goal is to receive financial compensation from the candidate. Olaiya Igwe, however, has defended his “nude campaign” for the candidate, according to a national newspaper, by claiming that Tinubu’s wife, Senator Oluremi, assisted him when he was ill and even offered to fly him abroad for treatment.
Our analyst looks at public interest in the past 24 hours (December 4, 2022) to determine the level of interest that netizens have had in the issue, as media attention to issues like this encourages public interest and eventually cancel culture practice. Analysis shows that there were 10,118 searches during that time. Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu received over 52% of the volume, while Olaiya received 39.50% of the searches. There were over 3% and 5% of searches on cancelling and cancel culture, respectively. With these outcomes, our analyst concludes that Nigerian netizens appear to be uninterested in learning about cancelling and cancel culture before seeking information about the duo. For example, analysis shows that the more they (netizens) searched about Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the more they sought information about cancelling. In particular, 1% interest in the candidate resulted in 16.2% interest in cancelling, compared to 5.4% for Olaiya Igwe.
This implies that netizens would rather cancel the candidate than the actor. If the principles of cancel culture produce the expected results, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu should anticipate a loss of votes during the election. At the same time, Olaiya Igwe should lose fans and potential revenue if he continues to produce films. However, recent information suggests that Olaiya Igwe did not suffer an immediate loss, as proponents of cancel culture predicted. He announced on Instagram that he had signed an endorsement deal with a real estate company after the video went viral.
We need to ask: Is cancel culture doing us more good by exposing prominent celebrities, politicians, and social media influencers and their sins?
