Nigeria's response to international criticism over the persecution of Christians, led by the US Senator Ted Cruz, has devolved into a puerile exercise in social media warfare. The government, it seems, has mobilised an army of online defenders who mistake hashtag activism for statecraft, creating a cacophony of voices that muddies discursive waters precisely when clarity is most needed. This lazy ineffective strategy obscures rather than genuinely address security crises.

The domestic response divides into four camps, each contributing to confusion rather than clarity. First, armchair social media warriors trade in inflammatory rhetoric while understanding neither the issues nor diplomatic consequences of their outbursts, amplifying misinformation that drowns substantive analysis.