The Federal Government on Friday suspended the activities of micro-blogging and social networking service, Twitter.
Ben Murray-Bruce: “Nigerians deserve their right to free speech. The Twitter ban in Nigeria is hasty and unnecessary. I hope the government sees its error and quickly corrects this goof.”
SERAP: “We’re suing Nigerian authorities over their illegal indefinite suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. Nigerians have a right to freedom of expression and access to information including online, and we plan to fight to keep it that way. @NigeriaGov, we’ll see you in court.”
Mike Ozekhome: “It was a retaliatory action against Twitter for humiliating President Buhari based on his incendiary statement against protesting Nigerians. Well, I am not surprised that the Federal Government has suspended Twitter’s operations in Nigeria. Are you? I have always said that this government has a very thin skin for criticism. It is a government that cannot take punches, but delights in always giving punches to adversaries, real or imaginary.
“What does Nigerian government think Twitter loses by being suspended? It is just the Nigerian people that will suffer, in the same way the government has been punishing Nigerians in the last six years. Twitter will not even bother whether Nigerians use Twitter or not. We are 210million people in Nigeria. Of this number, only about 33million Nigerians are active on social media. Less than 15 million of these are on twitter. On the other hand, there are well over 300 million people across the world that use twitter. So twitter will not feel it. It is just like a drop of water in an oasis.
“Twitter will not even know that a country has suspended it. So, it is the same beleaguered Nigerian people that will suffer, not the Federal Government or Twitter, because the Federal Government is a minute minuscule aspect of the Nigerian society, made up of only a few selected elite that do not care about the common man. The government knows that Nigerians now resort partly to Twitter to express their dismay and dissatisfaction with its mis-governance; its opaqueness; its lack of responsibility, transparency, accountability and commitment to the Nigerian people.
“The government knows that Nigerians now express their resentment and protest through Twitter, by telling the whole world how Nigeria has been turned into a corruption haven and a sprawling field of butchery, extra-judicial executions and slaughtering.
“Those in government do not want the world to hear about their atrocities. So, they just gleefully tell the world that they have suspended Twitter and that they would soon license other OTT and social media operations. These people in government know that Nigerians have been reaching out to the whole world; and they are very embarrassed that the breeze has been blowing and the smelly backside of the fowl is always being opened for the whole world to see and smell its odorous side.
“This is the same government that undeservedly rode to power using the same Twitter and other social media platforms it now detests. My humble appeal to this government is that it should go further than this. It should actually suspend or dissolve the Nigerian people which it has become so allergic to and no longer wants to see or hear about. Then, it can now go ahead to elect or select another people in place of the present Nigerians who appear to have become a nuisance to it. I am very ashamed of this government. This government knows no shame at all. This government has no integrity at all; no honour; no dignity; no capacity to govern; no pretensions to democratic nuances. I am greatly disappointed about this government round and round. I feel very sad as a Nigerian being led by a Government of one scandal per day.”
Bukola Saraki: “No sir! this should not be the response from the president of a nation with a vibrant youthful population for whom #Twitter is part of their daily lives and a source of their income and livelihood. This must be reviewed,”
Rev. Judah Agara: “The management of twitter has no right at all to delete Mr. President’s tweet. It is an insult to Nigeria. PMB has every right to tell us what took place in 1967 through 1970 and as a military historian; he was trying to draw the attention of some people in the South East who think that the only way to achieve Igbo aspiration to produce a president of Igbo extraction in 2023 is by warring. Let every Westerner stay clear from Nigeria’s domestic affairs. In fact, we can manage ourselves with God on our sides. Nigeria is saved.”
Kola Ologbondiyan, ,National Publicity Secretary, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP): “We Vehemently reject the unwarranted suspension of the social media platforom, Twitter, by the President Buhari-led Federal Government. It as a draconian action and a slide towards a fascist regime in our country. The suspension of twitter, is vexatious, condemnable and barbaric move to muzzle Nigerians, particularly the youths, ostensibly to prevent them from holding the overtly corrupt, vindictive and divisive Buhari administration accountable for its atrocities, including human rights violations, patronizing of terrorists and outright suppressive acts against innocent Nigerians.
“Our party notes that Lai Mohammed, in his statement, failed to cite an example of where Nigerians used Twitter as a platform to promote acts that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence as he claimed. The Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration are only afraid of Nigerians on Twitter because of their evil machinations for which they dread the Nigerian youths.
“Moreover, freedom of speech is firmly guaranteed in our constitution and the Buhari administration should be ready to face Nigerians over its misrule. In the case of any infringement, our nation has adequate extant laws to deal with such and not this move to gag the people. When it happened to former US President Donald Trump, he was not known to have deployed any act coercion against Twitter. Our party invites President Buhari to halt this international shame by rescinding this ugly decision.”
Abubakar Atiku:
“Hopefully, this isn’t my last tweet. #smile”
Olumide Akpata, NBA, President:
“The NBA has noted with great concern the extraordinary decision of the Federal Govt to suspend the operations of @Twitter in Nigeria and, by necessary implication, the right of Nigerians to freely express their constitutionally guaranteed opinions through that medium.
“The FGN also directed the NBC to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria, which is, at best, yet another disguised attempt to regulate social media, restrict freedom of speech and shrink civic space. Whether one likes it or not, we are operating a constitutional democracy, the primary consequence of which is that everything must be done according to law; government must be conducted within the framework of recognised rules and principles which restrict discretionary power.
“The NBA finds no constitutional or legal authority to support the peremptory action of the Federal Government to suspend the operations of Twitter in Nigeria. Beyond the dent on our constitutional democracy, at a time when the Nigerian economy is unarguably struggling… the impact of arbitrary decisions such as this on investor confidence is better imagined. Consequently, if this decision is not immediately reversed, the NBA will have no choice but to challenge same in the interest of the public and for the sake of our democracy.”