They tell me they are called “infidels,” “sympathizers of infidels,” “traitors,” and such other terrible epithets for merely daring to criticize Buhari, for giving vent to the pent-up frustrations that they have bottled up since Buhari’s anti-masses, lethargic, and clueless government started revealing its true colors. So they are cowed and intimidated. Many of them praise Buhari in their Facebook timelines, in comments, and join the crowd to condemn critics of the government just to “fit in,” to avoid social ostracism, but mostly to escape the caustic barbs of the fanatical, unthinking, knee-jerk jerks who have appointed themselves as Buhari’s social media defenders. But then they send me private messages and beseech me to never stop pointing out the tragedy that the Buhari government has become for common people, especially in northern Nigeria.
