Ovation Publisher and former Presidential candidate, Chief Dele Momodu has said that any plan to gag social media will fail, saying Nigerians are resilient people and will not succumb to such threat.

Speaking during his keynote address, “The Power of Social Media, ” at the City People Social Media Awards held on Sunday in Lagos, Momodu said Nigerians survived the move by erstwhile dictator, Gen Sani Abacha’s to gag its citizens, hence, attempt by government of the day to ban social media will fail.

“ Any attempt to gag us will fail. It will never happen. Abacha tried it and failed. Any attempt by any government to stop social media will fail. It is not about protests in the streets, or security agents going after you. Some of us fled this country during Abacha. I was involved with Freedom Radio, sometimes we had to broadcast using the phone. But with the social media, from your room, you can talk to millions of people and no one can stop you.”

The Ovation publisher also said that after the magic of electricity and telephone, the social media is the greatest invention by man.

On how he became a social media influencer, he said the journey started in 2010 with Facebook.

‘’I started using Social media in 2010, Facebook was the most common one then, When I got on Twitter not long after, I actually asked people to manage my account. I just past instruction that I want an announcement on the micro-blogging platform and it is carried out.

‘’But by January 2012, during the fuel subsidy protests, I realised how powerful the 140 character on Twitter has when I decided to reach out to a lot of people as I was the only one who carried a banner and protested in London, US, Ghana and Nigeria. I had about 13, 000 followers when I took over the management of the Twitter account; since then I have been addicted.

“The power of the social media is huge; you can reach millions in seconds. We are witnesses’ to what the change agents of the All Progressives Congress were able to do with the candidature of President Buhari,” he said.

In his opening remarks, Publisher City People, Mr. Seye Kehinde said City People is pleased to honour organisations and individuals who have contributed to the growth of the social media in the country, adding that his  20-year old magazine is excited to be part of the new media that has become part of daily life.

Vanguard newspaper won the award for the Best Online Newspaper of the Year , while other winners include;

Zenith Bank , Social Media Friendly Bank of the Year; Dangote Group, Best Tactical Use of Social Media for Cause Awareness;  Femi Fani-Kayode; Social Media Engaging Politician of the Year.,  BEST Online Tech Media , Page Omni.