In recent times, there has been a lot of threat and restrictions on the use of social media by the government of the giant of Africa, Nigeria. There is a popular saying that a clear conscience fears no accusation. This government fears so much about what is said or would be said by her people, that one begins to wonder why so much fear if you’re doing the right thing. Withholding information is central to tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship. This has become the state of Nigeria’s social media platforms.
President Buhari’s administration has announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter’s operations in the Country. This was contained in a statement released from the office of the Minister of Information and Culture; Lai Mohammed.
”The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
The Minister said the Federal Government of Nigeria has also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.”
This suspension comes days after the platform deleted tweets from President Buhari’s handle. I guess he believes he’s above the law.
President Buhari seems to be taking Nigeria backward every day. How else can someone describe tyranny other than this? This statement needs to be reversed before things skyrocket into something else.
Countries encourage their citizens to speak up for themselves but the Nigerian government is indirectly focusing its citizens to keep quiet rather than speak up.
There are so many issues that the Country is currently facing, I’m just wondering if this is the key issue that should be of utmost concern to them.
More details coming your way as more stories unfold.