Apparently, the president of the students' union body (UISU), Mascot, is not as popular or influential as we must have presumed. Or so says a micro-blogging platform. A Whatsapp blog TV, UI BLOG TV in conjunction with POLITY REPORTERS released a list that caused an uproar among students of the University of Ibadan on the 11th day of March, 2023.
According to the list, the top ten biggest personalities on campus include:
Whether an intentional publicity stunt or not, the handler successfully achieved his aim - to shake the whole of UI. Moreover, publicity is never bad depending on how onechannels it. This particular 'publicity' roused different reactions from different UITES:
"So Mascot no popular, Akoem no popular, even Nas of Naas no popular. Make the handler dey play."
Another UITE reacted saying:
"I've never even heard the names of about half of the people on that list. It's the handler's guts for me."
In their defense, a representative of the Blog TV reacted to the agitations of UITES as regards the list:
"It is critical to correct the misconception that popularity equals influence. The undisputed fact is that someone can be popular without having any influence. Hence, the names you see on our list are those that we, at UI BLOG TV, consider to be the most influential UI students on campus. They are those who, in addition to being popular, have the power to pull forces on campus.
Believe us, creating this list required a great deal of stress and cross-examining.
If you are not satisfied, go to court!"
As a matter of fact, people have a right to their opinions and are free to publicly air it. Like the handler of the blog rightly said, popularity and influence are two different concepts. Popularity is the state or condition of being liked, admired, or supported by many people. In sociology, popularity is how much a person, idea, place, item or other concept is either liked or accorded status by other people. Liking can be due to reciprocal liking, interpersonal attraction, and similar factors.
In other words, popularity can be relative. But referring to those ten people as the biggest personalities in the University of Ibadan? Mildly laughable.
By Anuoluwatomiwa Oke
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