Who is the next victim of social media?

Sometime in July, I received a broadcast message on my Blackberry Messenger (BBM) from a friend that reads: “The lady I use as my display picture is Cynthia. She left her home for Lagos to get market for her business but at the moment, nobody knows her whereabouts. Anybody with useful information about Cynthia should contact the police. Please re-broadcast and use her picture as your display picture for five minutes.”
I did use Cynthia’s picture but for less than five minutes and hoped she would be found alive.
However, when the news of her death was broken, tears dropped down my cheeks. When I read her profile, I had no doubt in my mind that she was such a promising young lady who, at 24, could control a business of her own without depending on his well-to-do family.
The gruesome murder or accidental murder (as the perpetrators put it) of Miss Cynthia was unearthed by the Nigerian Police that, for the first time, got my respect for the feat. This is not time to tackle our government that has made the security system ineffective.
The deceased, Miss Cynthia Osokogu, met Okwoma Nwabufor, 33, last November on a Blackberry group chat. For close to six months, she must have been in touch constantly with her killers on the messenger. They must have exchanged pictures and calls to their satisfaction and Cynthia would have thought Okwoma is an innocent young man who would not hurt an insect.
She visited Lagos to get market for her boutique and decided to see her “friend” with whom she had been exchanging conversation in the last six months of her life but that decision took her life.
Two of the culprits Okwoma Nwabufor and Odera Ezekiel looked too innocent to hurt a fly when I saw their pictures.
Cynthia’s case in one in many of the sad events that have been perpetrated through social networks such as Facebook, Blackberry Messenger, Mocospace, Eskimi and so on. There have been series of sex videos being spread through these media.
These videos always show how young ladies engage guys in sex. There are videos that show how a group of youths gang rape girls in their rooms. There was one I saw and it appeared the crime was perpetrated in the eastern part of the country because of the accent of the characters involved the tragic video. It was a sad game of four hefty guys between the age of 26 to 32 having their turn on a young lady who could not be more than 23.
In the video, the girl continued to plead with this guys who found delight in their act and took turns without being disturbed by their conscience. The title of the video was “2go package”.
The second video I saw had three guys taking turn on young lady who was calling the rapists names: “ Brother Seun”. This act was perhaps committed in the Southwest. The victim could not be more than 20 years. Cynthia’s case have only gone public because of the personality of her father. Many of such cases have gone without being reported.
Most of these social media were created with good intention but they are fast becoming slaughter slab for youth in Nigeria.
We saw the good side of social media during the subsidy protest last January. It is also being used to conduct lawful business by numerous online firms.
Bloggers like Ayodele Obajeun, Dayo Ibitoye are dishing out good stuffs with through their blogs. It is high time to put inplace measures to checkmate this menace. Youth and those who use the social networks should be extra careful because nobody can tell who is the next victim in the online slaughterhouse.

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