The Psychology Of Anti Tinubu Hysteria

This piece is written in response to:

1. They unrelenting attack on the person of Bola Tinubu by PDP supporters.

2. The anti-Tinubu’s opinion thread that made it to the front page earlier.

I’ll be as brief as possible because there’s a football match to catch.

Without a doubt, most Nigerians are already looking forward to 2023 and politicians and their strategists are already laying landmines for those they imagine would constitute the greatest stumbling block to the realization of their aspirations. To this end, PDP, even though they have yet to give the slightest hint of their flag bearer, has deployed their supporters and surrogates to initiate a relentless barrage of attacks on whom they suspect would be flying the APC’s banner- Tinubu.

Nowhere is this more evident than on Nairaland.

There’s a problem with this strategy and it has everything to so with human psychology.

Before the advent of the current political jousting, the Yorubas, not surprisingly, weren’t as pro-Tinubu as we see them today- at least, not online. This is because they tend not to be as politically intransigent as other ethnicities in Nigeria. They couldn’t care less about the intermittent jabs the man suffers, mostly from Yorubas themselves! Today, the story is totally different, no thanks to the endless attacks on his person by not only PDP supporters, but people they (Yorubas) consider OUTSIDERS.

What we are witnessing is a herd resistance to what the Yorubas consider an attack, not only on Tinubu, but on Yoruba interests. As long as the attacks aren’t coming from WITHIN, the collective defence being put up for Tinubu should be expected, the staunchest of which, ironically, would come from folks who were once totally indifferent about Tinubu or whatsoever fate he suffers.

Look at it this way: when IPOB attacked Senator Ike Ekweremadu in Germany, it appeared as though most Igbos endorsed the action, with some saying Igbos are not fond of tolerating errant politicians of Igbo extraction. They applauded the perpetrators and scornfully mocked the victim. But, the moment OUTSIDERS attempted to mock and “insult” the same Ekweremadu, they were rebuffed by the same people that had mocked and insulted him!!

The counter productivity of this strategy should be obvious to PDP and her supporters by now. The more you attack and scorn Tinubu, the more Yorubas would push back, and the more the man tends to grow in popularity. I’m not sure these attacks has turned any pro-Tinubu observer to an anti-Tinubu one, but I am VERY SURE it has turned some indifferent observers into his staunch supporters.

I’ve no doubt in my mind we all desire a better and prosperous Nigeria, let’s try and go about it the right way. Unwittingly making a hero of someone you consider a devious villain would hardly help your course. Review your strategy PDP.