…Say It Undermines Citizens’ Right to Free Expression …UK, Sweden Also Knock Action Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have strongly excoriated the Federal Government for suspending the microblogging platform, Twitter indefinitely in Nigeria, saying it will undermine the citizens’ right to free expression.
…Say It Undermines Citizens’ Right to Free Expression
…UK, Sweden Also Knock Action
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have strongly excoriated the Federal Government for suspending the microblogging platform, Twitter indefinitely in Nigeria, saying it will undermine the citizens’ right to free expression.
The Nigerian Government had on Friday suspended Twitter indefinitely in Nigeria.
In a statement by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, the government attributed the suspension to what it called “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”
The Minister, in the statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr Segun Adeyemi, said the Federal Government has also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
Twitter had on Wednesday deleted two tweets and a video, in which President Muhammadu Buhari threatened to invoke civil war treatment to arsonists, separatists and insurrectionists destroying public assets.
He spoke at a meeting with officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who had complained of losing 42 properties to arson.
Buhari tweeted: “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,’’ the President had said.
Reacting to the ban, Soyinka said he just heard the news of Buhari’s ban on Twitter an hour or so after sending off TO SHOCK AND AWE to the print media.
The Nobel Leaureate said he was not surprised at this petulant gesture, unbecoming of a democratically elected President.
According to Soyinka, “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 citizens 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!”
Speaking in the same vein, former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki also disagreed with the Buhari administration over banning of the microblogging and social nerworking platform.
Saraki, who’s a former Kwara State Governor, said the Twitter ban will deny Nigerian youths means of livelihood.
He said, “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.”
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) says the federal government ban of Twitter lacks constitutional authority and has, therefore, threatened to institute a lawsuit against it.
The NBA President, Mr Olumide Akpata, in his reaction, said this was a “disguised attempt to regulate social media, restrict freedom of speech and shrink civic space.”
Akpata said this implies that the government has also “suspended the right of Nigerians to freely express their constitutionally guaranteed opinions” through Twitter.
Vowing to protect the country’s democracy, he said the association will sue the government if the decision is not reversed.
The NBA President said, “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.”
Both the United Kingdom and Swedish Governments have also kicked against the indefinite suspension slammed on Twitter by President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.
The UK government through the High Commissioner in Nigeria, Ms Gill Atkinson said Nigerians have right to freedom of speech and the government must not suppress it.
“All Nigerians have the right to freedom of speech and the responsibility not to misuse that right.
“Any action taken by Government must be measured, proportionate and not to suppress basic freedoms.”
The Swedish Embassy in Nigeria, in a terse post via its Twitter handle, noted Nigerians have the constitutional right to exercise their freedom of expression.
It further stated this constitutional right must be respected.
“Nigerians have a constitutional right to exercise their freedom of expression and a right to access of information. This must be respected.
“Safeguarding free, independent media and civic spaces for democratic voices is an important part of Sweden’s #DriveForDemocracy #TwitterBan,” Sweden stated.
The microblog Twitter had deleted President Buhari’s tweet wherein he threatened to treat Nigerians “misbehaving” in “the language they understand”.
Buhari in the tweet shared on Tuesday about the civil war experience had threatened to deal with those “bent on destroying” Nigeria through “insurrection.”
The President stated, “Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
Following the public outcry of Nigerians, the microblogging site deleted the tweet from the thread, on Wednesday.
According to Twitter, “This tweet violated the Twitter rules.”
Twitter has also expressed “deep concern” over the federal government’s decision to suspend its operations in Nigeria.
Ms Sarah Hart, Twitter’s senior policy communications manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, in a statement, said the company is investigating the development.
“The announcement made by the Nigerian Government that they have suspended Twitter’s operations in Nigeria is deeply concerning.
“We’re investigating and will provide updates when we know more,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Facebook, another social media platform, has also removed the controversial statement posted via President Buhari’s official page.
Facebook, following reports from many Nigerian users, removed the same post from its platform..
“In line with our global policies, we’ve removed a post from President Buhari’s Facebook page for violating our Community Standards against inciting violence. We remove any content, from individuals or organisations that violates our policies on Facebook,” the platform stated.
Although the post is no longer available on Mr Buhari’s timeline, it is sustained on other Facebook accounts including that of his media aide, Mr Femi Adesina.
It is, however, unclear if the Nigerian government would also wield the big stick and suspend the operations of Facebook as it did to Twitter on Friday for bringing down the same statement.
Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari has however deactivated her Twitter handle in solidarity to her husband. “I will be deactivating my Twitter account for now. Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria,” she wrote.
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