[dropcap custom_class=”normal”] The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was set up by the Nigerian government to fight corruption and has a high level of support from the presidency, so imagine our surprise when sometime in 2016, the commissions twitter account “came alive” and constantly encompassed it’s followers with a healthy dose of laughs and thought provoking tweets daily [/dropcap]
The commission is a renowned law enforcement agency that was gravely established in 2003 to fight corruption so it wasn’t expected of them to care about entertaining and engaging the Nigerian youth. No one was expecting such light headed banter from them.
We were so sure that the EFCC would not, could not be so rogue on their social media page. Everybody and their cousins wondered to no end who it was behind the account. As a matter of fact, many of us thought the twitter handle had been hacked.
The handler of the twitter account @officialEFCC was fast becoming an anonymous favorite with its witty responses, caustic clap backs and satirical tweets when social media was sent into a frenzy on the 24th of July with the big reveal.
Olufemi Adeyemi better known as Fshaw, aspiring rapper and former student 0f Covenant University was unveiled as the droll mind behind the handle. We are not sure if he voluntarily moved on to greater things, was promoted, but we all saw the emotional tweet from the EFCC to him extending their best wishes.
“You are an excellent communicator; you are special. Good luck for the future and thank you for your service @FshawKingFisher, “The Handler” tweeted EFCC.
FShaw replied saying “Thank you for trusting my judgement and thank you for the privilege to serve. I wish you greater success going forward. Esprit de Corps.”
The high commendations and numerous glowing tweets at him was something akin to a standing ovation. And personally I would like to say a big Thank You to him because while it was all fun and games on the internet, arrests were being made in real life.
None of that deterred the EFCC from actually doing their job. Femi just made us a lot more aware of what the commission was about while making them seem more real, engaging and cool.
I would like to state here that Femis story is one to learn from.
Below are 3 lessons to be learned from The Handler;
1) BE YOURSELF: And allow people to be themselves. It does not matter how serious your business, everybody likes a little dash of humor and wit every now and then. You are not a robot, so don’t act like one. And if you happen to be handling someone else’s account, using @officialEFCC as an example, remember that while fraudsters and corrupt officials were being rounded up in real life, the twitter page was kept alive. Tweets were replied to, questions were answered and trolls were given what they deserved while the EFCC follower based increased organically.
When a social media marketer joins your team, give them the ground rules yes, but sometimes it also helps to let them have a free hand. Allow them be themselves, not you. They are not you.
2.) EMBRACE YOUR EXPERTISE: Whatever you want to do, be the best at it. Do it well, so well that nobody can do it like you. Make sure people never forget you. If you’re good at eating rice, eat it with such skill and precision that no one else can eat rice like you. Become an expert rice eater.
While Femi Adeyemi would not be handling the EFCCs tweets anymore as far as we know, he has set a very high bar and it would be hard for the next handler to beat that.
3) NEVER GIVE UP: Femi had his fair share of challenges like the best of us. While in Covenant he was a well known rapper who had songs with the now famous Simi. 7 years ago he released Moonlight Serenade and As the World Turns. They were beautiful and intelligent songs which had exceptional videos, but the music industry and politics has taught us that talent is the last thing you need to be successful in the industry. After wards he went on a self imposed hiatus and absolutely nothing was heard from him till he was revealed as the handler. Now even Covenant university is proud to associate with him and give him a very public eagles salute.
Never give up, no matter how long it takes and how many failures. It always pays to discover your passion and stick to it.
See some of our favorite tweets from @officialEFCC while Femi was in control,
We are so glad that Femi did what he did and we are super proud of him. We look forward to seeing where he goes from here.
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