Professor Wole Soyinka says if President Muhammadu Buhari has a problem with the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, then he should sort it out privately.
Reacting on Friday to the ban placed on Twitter by the Federal Government, the Nobel Laureate said the move is a “petulant gesture” that is “unbecoming of a democratically elected president”.
Soyinka noted that a Twitter ban in the country is a “technical issue Nigerians should be able to work their way around”.
He added that “the field of expression remains wide open, free of any dictatorial spasms”.
Below is the brief communique as put out by the Nobel Laureate.
Heard the news of Buhari’s ban on Twitter an hour or so after sending off TO SHOCK AND AWE to the print media. Kindly add my total lack of surprise at this petulant gesture, unbecoming of a democratically elected president.
If Buhari has a problem with Twitter, he is advised to sort it out between them personally, the way Donald Trump did, not rope in the right to free expression of the Nigerian citizen as collateral damage.
In any case, this is a technical problem Nigerians should be able to work their way around. The field of free expression remains wide open, free of any dictatorial spasms!
Wole SOYINKA