Some of Nigeria’s most popular celebrities, Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Wizkid, Davido, Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade among others, have added their voices to the social media blackout, #BlackoutTuesday, to demand justice for victims of rape, racism, police brutality and other injustices.
They all joined the protest by posting plain black squares on Instagram on Tuesday.
To join the cause, Genevieve shared three black squares.
“#blackouttuesday,” she captioned each one of them.
The Lionheart producer had on Sunday started a debate on social media after she shared a tweet about men who abuse their power.
Some social media users argued that her comment was misogynistic as it implied that all men are guilty of the physical and sexual abuse of women.
Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde also shared three squares, two with a picture of a black heart and one with the words, “Black lives matter.”
“Reform and re-educate the police,” the captioned one of them.
Wizkid, who on Monday described the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari and the American President, Donald Trump, as both ‘clueless, left his post without a caption.
Other famous faces who joined the social media protest include, Davido, Tiwa Savage Yemi Alade and Falz.
Davido, who had earlier been pictured with a leg brace due to an injury on his right leg, captioned his post, “Blackout 147 #blacklivesmatter #Saynotorape #saynotoracism #saynotowar.”
The narrative has been that it doesn’t affect us because it happens so far away but I am my brothers/sisters keeper whether far or near #blackouttuesday #wearetired,” wrote Tiwa Savage, who on Sunday inspired the trend #Wearetired on Twitter after she used in a tweet to raise awareness about the issues.#
While Yemi Alade wrote, “For#blackouttuesday #JusticeForUwa #JusticeForTina and all victims of rape and violence. #justiceforall #oneracehumanrace.”
And Falz, who is a lawyer by training and publicly stood up for the female officers of the Nigerian Immigrations Service who were penalised for taking part his #Don’tRush/BopDaddyChallenge, also chose not to add a caption to his post.
The #BlackoutTuesday protest began in the music industry as a way of expressing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests held across the United States of America following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a policeman, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for over eight minutes.
To join the movement, users post a black square on their social media page and commit not to post any other thing for the rest of the day.
