Rinz 
Following the conclusion of the presidential and senatorial elections, it’s been chaos on social media this past few days between members of the Nigerian public and some of the country’s celebrities.
Labour Party’s Thaddeus Attah defeated PDP’s Banky W with 24,075 votes to 18,666 votes, but a lot of the former’s industry colleagues have publicly come out to repeatedly say “Banky W deserved to win” with Deyemi Okanlawon taking it a step further with what he termed an “open letter” on his Instagram page.
Deyemi stated in the lengthy letter that he voted for Banky W because he believed he’s the ideal person for the job, and emphasised his reservations and concerns about the prevalence of herd mentality, cyberbullying, and tribalism on all sides of the voting process.
After congratulating him on his success, he asked honorable-elect Attah what his plans are for Eti-Osa because, despite doing extensive research on him, he had not discovered anything about them.
Read the open letter below:
“I’ll like to use this opportunity to congratulate you, Mr. Thaddeus Attah @jt.atta of the Labour Party(LP), as the winner of the Eti-Osa Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives. Before I go ahead with what I will like to say, I will like to fully disclose that I voted for Mr. Bankole Wellington of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as I honestly thought he would have been the best candidate for the job. I do have immense faith in our discernment as a people to elect the right candidate, however I am also quite worried about the role tribal sentiments, cyberbullying and herd mentality on all sides has played in our electoral process. That being said, I am a firm believer in democracy and I would want nothing more than for the people’s wish to prevail so once again I congratulate you Sir.
Mr Attah, same as with a lot of Lagosians, I only first heard of you when you were announced the winner a few days ago. Since that time I have made a significant effort to find out as much as possible about our newly elected federal HOR candidate. To my surprise, my quest for answers left me even more puzzled as to who you really are as well as what your qualifications, past precedents and plans are for the people of Eti-Osa. With little or no online presence, and for someone that overthrew both an incumbent and a public figure, I am yet to find any indications of your campaign manifesto. It would therefore be a great pleasure if you Sir will do me the honour of accepting an invitation to join me online for a live Instagram conversation this weekend to address concerns and respond to questions many others like myself may have.
Finally, without seeking to influence or enforce any candidate on anyone, I will like to use this medium to urge all well-meaning, progressive Lagosians ahead of the March 11 elections to find their own individual voice such that when we head to the polls we ensure the person we are voting for reflects our collective want for great leadership and our desire for excellent governance. I look forward to a lively discourse.
Your constituent,
Deyemi Okanlawon.”
People were not having with. With some other celebrities calling out the actor over what they termed bullying and issuance of subtle threats on the duly-elected honourable. The consensus from what we gathered is that people think while Deyemi’s intentions are somewhat good, his delivery is terrible and condescending.
Honourable-elect Thaddeus Attah is yet to respond even though this issue has caused a media frenzy, but Deyemi Okanlawon, having had time to reflect, has come out with a public apology. The actor acknowledged his poor choice of words, but maintained that he’d still like to have a conversation with Attah.
“In the early hours of today, in the spirit of the season wrote an open letter to the HOR-elect of Eti-Osa Local Government area, Mr. Thaddeus Attah. I admit I could have chosen better words and I could have not allowed the frustration that I have felt about this past week to affect the message that I was trying to pass across. So I apologize to Mr. Attah and everyone who felt I was overreaching. I would now try to focus on the core of what I am saying so it’s clear and can’t be misconstrued in any way,”
Attah is yet to respond to any of this.
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