Barely 24hrs after the suspension of micro-blogging site, Twitter operations in Nigeria, the Presidency on Saturday justified the step taken by the Federal government.
It said the decision was not just about the deletion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweets, but to forestall unforeseen circumstances.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, justified the decision in a statement titled ‘Presidential statement on Twitter suspension in Nigeria.’
The statement read in part, “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 have been fueled by social media networks risk seeping into the fabric of an emerging digital culture.”
The Presidency said major tech companies must be alive to their responsibilities, saying 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 loss of many lives.
The statement added, “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 will be treated ‘in a language they understand,’ he merely reiterated that their force shall be met with force. It is a basic principle of security services response world over.
“This is not 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 policemen 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.”
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