The federal government Wednesday said it was suspicious of the role of the social media giant, Twitter following the deleting of President Buhari tweet.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed also accused Twitter of playing double standards on issues concerning the country’s domestic matters, saying it had not been fair to Nigeria.
The minister spoke in Abuja on Wednesday while reacting to questions over the reported deleting of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweets reminiscing Nigerians’ experiences during the civil war.
According to the Minister, while the social media giant had conveniently ignored inciting tweets by the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and his cohorts, displaying the same biases it did during the #ENDSARS protest, where government and private properties were looted and set on fire, all in the name of right to protest, it found the President’s tweets offensive.
Reacting to Twitter’s action, Mohammed said “Twitter may have its own rules; it’s not the universal rule. If Mr. President, anywhere in the world feels very bad and concern about a situation, he is free to express such views. Now, we should stop comparing apples with oranges. If an organisation is proscribed, it is different from any other which is not proscribed.
“Two, any organisation that gives directives to its members, to attack police stations, to kill policemen, to attack correctional centres, to kill warders, and you are now saying that Mr. President does not have the right to express his dismay and anger about that? We are the ones guilty of double standards.
“I don’t see anywhere in the world where an organisation, a person will stay somewhere outside Nigeria, and will direct his members to attack the symbols of authority, the police, the military, especially when that organisation has been proscribed. By whatever name, you can’t justify giving orders to kill policemen or to kill anybody you do not agree with,” he said.
