Nnadiebube Journal of Social Sciences

This paper examines the relationship between contemporary Nigerian Twitter dragging culture and traditional African practices of public shaming. The common view is that cancel culture is a Western import that has been copied by young Nigerians on social media. This paper challenges that view. It argues that dragging is a digital continuation of long-standing African communal moral policing. The paper adopts a qualitative and conceptual methodology. It analyses oral literature and ethnographic records from Igboland and Kalabari communities, and it carries out a critical review of Ubuntu ethics literature. The focus is on traditional forms of shaming such as Abu Mbem and Atilogwu satirical songs in Igboland and kokos and ibi songs in Kalabari. The findings show that traditional shaming was not random cruelty or mob justice. It was a regulated moral sanction that followed three clear ethical conditions. The first is proportionality, which means the level of shame must match the level of the offence. The second is truth and due process, which means the allegation must be verified through communal deliberation before shaming begins. The third is possibility of reintegration, which means the offender must have a clear path back into the community after showing remorse and making amends. When these three conditions are applied to three widely discussed patterns of Nigerian cancel culture between 2019 and 2023, the results are mixed. Some cases meet the conditions and function as legitimate moral correction. Many others fail. They are disproportionate, they are based on unverified screenshots and rumours, and they seek permanent exclusion rather than restoration. The paper therefore recommends a new understanding of Ubuntu. Instead of seeing Ubuntu as only forgiving and restorative, we should see it as a punitive-restorative continuum. In this model, ethical shaming is allowed when it protects communal harmony, follows due process, and aims at healing. The paper concludes that African ethics has internal resources to reform cancel culture and to make dragging more just.

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