Retaining our humanity: Ifeanyi Adeleke on my mind

In the evening hours of Monday, 31st of October 2022, news broke on social media that Ifeanyi Adeleke, son of popular pop singer, Davido, has reportedly drown in a pool at the singer’s Banana Island residence while the his parent were in faraway Ibadan for a family gathering.

The painful death of the three-year-old toddler has got the public space awash with feelings of agony, grief and despair.

However, some people on social media became psychiatrists, some became investigative journalists and child-protection analysts cum judges passing insensitive and uncaring comments without caring about the bereaved parent who are yet to speak since the unfortunate incident.

ALSO READ: Ifeanyi Adeleke, Davido’s son is dead

Social media, despite the hopes and promise -of reclaiming the public space that the traditional society had cede to increasingly individualist, modern one- it came with.

The digital bridges the media platforms built has even made us more distant deepening our differences and dividing us into clusters of toxic antagonists.

Some, out of lack of taste in his music or for clout, have chosen to say hurtful and insensitive things about Davido and Chioma, the bereaved parent, ranging from the numbers of people to have died around Davido and how he is supposedly using them to “renew his wealth” and the likes without consideration for the tragedy that just befell him.

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Unfounded rumors drawing inferences on apportioning blames on the parent, the nanny and others were the order of the day begging the question that has the vanity trophies of likes and retweets of social media has altered the way we respond to tragedy as human?

Have we totally lose our humanity and humane values like considering the feelings of others, caring and showing love in the little form we can muster? Are we now totally incapable of showing empathy to feel in the pain of people around us?

Nonetheless, the laudable gestures expressed by a remarkable numbers of celebrities and netizens who have took their time send emotional and heartfelt messages of condolences to the family must not go unnoticed.

Condolence message by Pop artist, Dammy Krane, who, despite his kerfuffle with Davido – having called the latter out few weeks earlier over some unpaid debt – went ahead to consoled and pray for him has garnered reactions commending him for the humane action.

Actions like this should be emulated, we should relearn the compassionate way of reacting to tragedy.

Tragedies should prompt genuine concern and reflection and not performative reactions like making insensitive utterances for social media clicks at the expanse of those affected.

Pimping tragedies and all sort of depravities are incontrovertible indications we are rapidly forfeiting our humanity and it is evident that we must do all it takes to retain our humanity.