Following the controversy surrounding the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria by the president Buhari-led administration, the presidency has finally broken silence.
The Presidency has explained why President Muhammadu Buhari suspended the operation of Twitter in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s information and culture minister Lai Mohammed had on Friday announced Twitter’s suspension in a statement by his media aide, Segun Adeyemi.
Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesman in a statement released on Saturday night, explained that the ban was not all about Buhari’s tweet deleted by Twitter.
The statement read, “The temporary suspension of Twitter is not just a response to the removal of the President’s post. There has been a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real-world violent consequences. All the while, the company has escaped accountability.
“Nevertheless, the removal of President Buhari’s tweet was disappointing. The censoring seemed based on a misunderstanding of the challenges Nigeria faces today.
“The President in his address at the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA in 2019 said, “the world was shocked and startled by the massacre in New Zealand by a lone gunman taking the lives of 50 worshippers.”
“This and similar crimes which social media networks have fueled risk seeping into the fabric of an emerging digital culture. Major tech companies must be alive to their responsibilities. They cannot be allowed to continue to facilitate the spread of religious, racist, xenophobic and false messages capable of inciting whole communities against each other, leading to the loss of many lives. This could tear some countries apart.
“President Buhari has therefore been warning against social media’s disruptive and divisive influences and the government’s action is not a knee-jerk reaction to Twitter’s preposterous deletion of his tweet, which should have been read in full. The tweet was not a threat but a statement of fact.
“A terrorist organisation (IPOB) poses a significant threat to the safety and security of Nigerian citizens. When the President said that they would be treated “in a language they understand,” he merely reiterated that their force should be met with force. It is a fundamental principle of security services response the world over.
“This is not the promotion of hate, but a pledge to uphold citizens’ right to freedom from harm. The government cannot be expected to capitulate to terrorists.
“IPOB is proscribed under Nigerian law. Its members murder innocent Nigerians. They kill police officers and set government property on fire. Now, they have amassed a substantial stockpile of weapons and bombs across the country.
“Twitter does not seem to appreciate the national trauma of our country’s civil war. This government shall not allow a recurrence of that tragedy.”
