Yesterday, the Facebook account of my brother and friend got hacked. He didn’t even know about it, until his lines started buzzing with comments, observations and remarks. Worse still, those who should know better were the first to heap insults and insults upon this man of God for an act he knew nothing about. It is never news when a FaceBooK account gets hacked. It happens all the time (Facebook has to do something about ensuring our integrity. Why is no one suing? Oh! This is Nigeria. I nearly forgot. But seriously, why is no one suing?) However, it is indeed news when the account of a priest is hacked and used to distribute pornographic and obscene pictures and messages to thousands of people.
When I spoke with my friend yesterday, he was disillusioned, sad and disappointed. Not at those who hacked his account, but at those who were quick to believe the worst about him. In fact, he considered fleeing Facebook for good. But he eventually decided to trust God and carry on (funny enough, when I wanted to take ‘four-forty’ out of social media three years ago, he was the same friend that encouraged me to remain). Wonders shall never end o!
I thank those who understood the situation and were quick to defend my colleague. But I am not so happy with those who were too quick to condemn him. Wait a minute! Did you really think a priest could send pornographic pictures to the very same persons he preaches to? Geez! Give us a break I beg. If someone hacks my account tomorrow (God forbid!), is that how those I call my friends would quickly heap insults on me and condemn me? Where then is the trust my friends? Yesterday’s event was an eye opener. But hackers or no hackers, we will continue to do our work of propagating the faith with social media. We need all the trust we can get from you. Is that too much to ask?
Rev. Fr. Oselumhense K. Anetor
