Between Mummy Zee and Her Trolls, by Zayd Ibn Isah

Nigerians are generous people, but our tendency to remind others of the favors we have done for them is one of our major shortcomings. Take Deborah Olaki, popularly known as Mummy Zee, as a case study. Since she became the celebrated beneficiary of a voluntary crowd-funding drive grown from social media, the mother of two has rarely been able to express her views and personal opinions without people constantly reminding her of her past.

Recently, she shared her thoughts on X (formerly Twitter) about a married woman who lied about being single to secure a job. In a now-deleted post, she wrote, “I can never understand why a married woman with kids would lie about being single to secure a job. A job of 180k, for goodness’ sake. 180k is not worth lying for, sincerely.”

As expected, trolls on X came for her immediately. For those who do not know who/what a troll is, it is a term born out of modern internet culture. In this context, a troll is an internet user who deliberately tries to upset people or start an argument with them on social media platforms, especially by posting/saying offensive or unkind things. Trolls often target popular internet users such as celebrities, and they do this with the intention of getting a reaction or simply being mean. On Nigerian social media spaces, trolls are fairly common. Sometimes, they can get put down by the likes of Toke Makinwa or Frank Edoho; and other times, they can be so vicious in their attacks that the targeted celebrity or internet user might even deactivate their social media accounts or leave the platform entirely.

Mummy Zeeʼs situation with trolls is a lot more complex. Firstly, her celebrity status is nowhere close to the heights of the average music artiste, ex-Big Brother Naija housemate, or even content creators (Sabinus, Asher Kine), but she is still well-known to an extent. And secondly, some of the trolls against Mummy Zee were once her supporters, hard as that is to believe. This makes for a rather interesting scenario, especially when she makes a divisive or controversial statement on X. Mummy Zee was given wings to fly by social media, but now, it is almost as if she is expected to be free without ever breaking certain unwritten rules of her celebrity status. Most Nigerians who followed her rise to fame have formed certain expectations which they expect her to adhere to. This complex relationship has more or less allowed Mummy Zee to experience her fair share of trolling from time to time.

In this particular instance, Mummy Zeeʼs critics and trolls questioned how she could say that ₦180,000 was too small to lie about someone’s marital status. They harshly criticized her, arguing that she no longer has the standing to condemn another married woman for lying to get a job, since she herself only recently escaped poverty through crowd funding. In a sense, the trolls reactivated the first clause of Mummy Zeeʼs “social media celebrity contract” with Nigerians, which is that she should never forget where she came from, and how she became popular in the first place.

Surprisingly, some of the people trying to silence Mummy Zee’s voice on social media would be the first to remind the government or anyone who tried to stifle their own voices of their rights to freedom of expression. How hypocritical can they be? The ironic thing about those policing Mummy Zee’s statements on social media, due to her changed fortunes through crowd funding, is that none of them may have even contributed a dime to her voluntary crowdfunding campaign. Even if they did, it might be a fraction compared to what those who donated handsomely did, yet are not harassing her on social media.

Mummy Zee was right to voice her dismay at the married woman’s conduct. In fact, no amount is worth lying about one’s marital status for. This should be agreed upon by any reasonable human being, but the beauty of the Internet allows for a diversity of opinions and responses. As it has been pointed out by netizens, it is almost impossible to say something on the Internet nowadays without it leading to an argument. You could make a post on Facebook, saying that you love oranges, and someone would take offense at that, saying, “That must mean apples aren’t good enough, right?”

It would not be far-fetched to surmise that some of the trolls up against Mummy Zee are people who would like nothing but for her to fall from grace. Apart from those who have set unfair expectations for Mummy Zee, there are also those who simply envy her newfound status, and might possibly even despise her. The line between trolling and hating often blurs easily. As such, it would be bad for the rest of us to look on while Mummy Zee is gradually forced into silence or conformity by people who either do not understand the concept of free expression, or are simply unable to accept the fact that Mummy Zee does not owe them a single thing.

And, as Nigerians, we must learn to resist the urge to police and censor the actions and beliefs of any singular individual, especially when we feel like we contributed to such an individual’s success, good fortune or fame. Social media gives us the power and freedom to express, trade and question ideas. However, outrightly bullying or trolling someone for having a harmless opinion is a gross misuse of that power. If we force people to conform and adjust to certain ways of thinking or doing something, would we not be hypocrites if we were to protest against the government doing something similar to us?

One can only hope that Mummy Zee will not let the persistence of these trolls get to her in any way. She has as much right to be on social media and express herself as the next Nigerian, and she does not need to always be in fear of triggering people who might feel like she should stick to a certain lane of expectations. A lot of Nigerians came together to make life better for Mummy Zee, and till date, it is still one of the most beautiful stories to ever come out from a viral tweet. But the greatest thing Nigeria can do for Mummy Zee is to let her be, to let her experience life on her own terms without having to constantly perform for needless validation and approval.

It is impossible to get rid of internet trolls entirely, but we need to call out those who take things too far on the internet, even to the point of affecting one’s mental state or sense of self-esteem. Our social media platforms should be safe spaces for people to explore, connect and discover themselves. And to be honest, the sooner we can begin to learn how to tolerate each other on social media, as a nation, without resorting to mean trolling and pure hate speech, the easier it would be for all of us to unite and make progress. All of this can start by just allowing one person to “breathe” on social media, and if that person is Deborah Olaki, aka Mummy Zee, today, it might be my turn or yours tomorrow.

Zayd Ibn Isah can be reached at lawcadet1@gmail.com