It is no longer news that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through its presidency, placed an indefinite suspension on the microblogging giant, Twitter on the 4th of June, 2021.
The ban took effect on the 5th of June with many users of the platform resorting to Virtual Private Networks, otherwise known as VPN, to continue activities.
A tweet by the president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, was deemed to have contravened the community standards of the platform and was immediately deleted. A move that did not go down well with the current administration. Angered by this, the Buhari led administration immediately banned the use of Twitter in Nigeria.
Worthy of note is how quickly the Federal Government of Nigeria reacts to criticisms especially on social media than the current debacle of total and complete breakdown in security, banditry and terrorism in the country.
Mr Buhari and the presidency have been looking for an avenue to clampdown on the Nigerian social media sphere longtime coming. APC senators and government officials such as the Minister for information, Lai Mohammed, have not pretended about their intentions.
As a matter of fact, Mr Mohammed is largely responsible for the attempts to cut down on the rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression.
It is amazing that a government that rose to power via a sustained barrage of lies, bad blood, vituperation and mendacious allegations against a then sitting president, using social media, is seeking the destruction of the same platform. Ironical.
It can only point to one thing. That the government has a lot to hide from the international community. And Nigerians are genuinely worried that with Twitters ban, the government might proceed to banning other social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and even Google.
That will totally put us out of sight of the entire world. That is going to put Nigerians, especially the Nigerian youths at the mercy of the cabal.
We are therefore, as far sighted citizens, calling for the immediate reversal of the ban on Twitter by the Federal Government of Nigeria. We say an emphatic NO to a growing culture of dictatorship and intolerance.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Usman Okai Austin
Public Affairs Analyst
Writes from Abuja
