Nigerians have been assured that their optimism on the emergence of a better Nigeria is not in any way misplaced. This was contained in a Christmas message from the Association of Online Media Practitioners of Nigeria, AMPON.

In the statement, signed on behalf of its Chairman, Wole Arisekola by the Acting Secretary, Olugbenga Bada, the Association urged the Federal Government to reflect on the Christmas season and provide Nigerians with the kind of selfless leadership that Christ exemplified. “What Nigerians need from the government at all levels is selfless leadership as exemplified by Jesus Christ, who loved his friends so much that he gave his life for them”.

The statement also read in part; “our leaders should use the end of the year as a period of introspection. The same court orders that could not be obeyed for reasons known to the Major General Buhari administration were eventually obeyed after the United States waded in. Sadly, barely days before then, Major General Buhari’s handlers had given reasons for not obeying the order and had gone as far as reminding the United States Government that it has not been officially appointed ‘policeman of the world’. While it is shameful that the government refused to yield to the cries of Nigerians to obey the judiciary, which is the last hope of the common man, it is even more painful that it took only a letter from the United States to change the situation and secure the release of Col. Sambo Dasuki after four years in detention”.

The statement went further that “if we don’t give up and we collectively demand for our rights, Nigeria will eventually become a better place and not only will we have the ears of our leaders, we will eventually have a government we can truly be proud of”.

Lending its voice to the debate on the ‘Social Media Bill’, the Association described it as a ploy to gag the media. “Let it be known that AMPON will join Nigerians to resist every move to gag the media and subtly remove the freedom of the press. Nigerians have the right to express themselves and no government will be allowed to take that away from them”.