On Monday morning, Godsday Orubebe — a former appointee of President Goodluck Jonathan — tried to stop the vote counting as Jonathan was around 2 million votes behind.
Jega: "Ladies and gentlemen, I think we are ready to continue." PDP agent storms back in. He still has microphone. "You cannot continue."
Orubebe's was unsuccessful — but he got Twitter famous in the process.
Orubebe
His name was immediately reborn — always as a verb, and always about disrupting something you shouldn't be.
@TunjiLardner @GbengaGOLD
Some meanings of the new phrase "to Orubebe" are less kind than others.
new word: orubebe
Orubebe's outburst also spawned a new spin on the name of the elections chairman, Attahiru Jega.
“@officialdaddymo: JEGA HAS SPOKEN #NigeriaDecides These are not the votes you are looking for Orubebe 👍👏💯 ” LOL!!
Jega had already become widely known and respected in Nigeria for the calm with which he handles having the most sensitive, stressful job in Nigeria right now.
And after Saturday's election "Jega" has taken on new meaning. Sometimes "to Jega" can be a verb...
Lmao! Jega making history! 😂😂😂
Other times, it's better used as an adverb.
Lol Jega
All you artists out there. Please create a KEEP JEGAED AND CARRY ON design in Green &replace the crown with the Nigerian Coat of Arms. I beg
@TunjiLardner
And sometimes its best used as an adjective.
Jega. Word of the week "@Mss_Fateemah: Hokay....😏😂 "
"To Jega" even entered Nigerian street slang. If you need to rebuff a guy who just keeps trying, you can just Jega him.
Nigerians play too much 😂😂
Showing the speed of the Internet, "to Jega" has already made it to Orubebe's wikipedia page. "He attempted to disrupt the announcement of election results," the page read, "but he was jega'd."
@Phoenvvx @FLOMATIC_ @Adahna They added "but he was jega'd." Lol
Jega even carried connotations of peace and unity — the two biggest things on Nigerians' mind as the country awaited what became the first-ever democratic transition of power in Nigeria.
#NigeriaDecides: Nigerians are so creative!! #LetNigeriaDecide
