Oyogist.com has learned that the presidency has denied widespread claims of the recent suspension of the social media platform, Twitter’s operation in Nigeria ,saying it has nothing to do with the deletion of President Muhammadu Buhari tweet’s.
On Friday, the federal government had announced a temporary suspension of Twitter’s operation in Nigeria, this was coming after twitter had deleted a controversy tweet on President Muhammadu Buhari’s account in reaction to recent violent activities linked to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in the Southeast region of the country.
Addressing to claims that his comments in the deleted tweets were genocidal in nature or a threat to citizens, the Presidency said it was rather a statement of fact about situations witnessed during the Nigerian civil war, adding that it was was rather an assurance that rights of Nigerians would be preserved.
In a statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the Presidency said government’s action was rather in response to the micro-messaging platform’s long-observed misdemeanours, including misinformation and spread of fake new, which it said had led to violent ends.
“The temporary suspension of Twitter is not just a response to the removal of the President’s post. There has been a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real world violent consequences. All the while, the company has escaped accountability.
Nevertheless, the removal of President Buhari’s tweet was disappointing. The censoring seemed based on a misunderstanding of the challenges Nigeria faces today against each other, leading to loss of many lives.
“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 statement said
“The tweet was not a threat, but a statement of fact.
