Twitter has deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet where he threatened to deal with unscrupulous Nigerians promoting anarchy in the country for violating its rules.
The President’s tweet read: “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigeria 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 tweet referred to the 1967-70 Nigerian Civil War and was in response to the recent spate of attacks on government offices, mainly in the south-east, blamed on regional secessionists.
The social media platform deleted the message on Wednesday, following viral criticism of Buhari. “This Tweet violated Twitter Rules,” the microblogging site said.
Government reacts accuses Twitter of double standards
Information minister Lai Mohammed accused the social media platform of double standards at a press conference.
He said: “Twitter may have its own rules, it’s not the universal rule. If Mr President, anywhere in the world, feels very bad and concerned about a situation, he is free to express such views. 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?
“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,” Mr Mohammed said.
He continued: The mission of the social media platform in Nigeria is very very suspect. Has Twitter deleted the violent tweets that Nnamdi Kanu has been sending? Has it? The same Twitter during the ENDSARS protests that was funding ENDSARS protesters, it was the first to close the account of the former president of US, Trump.
“And you see, when people were burning police stations and killing policemen in Nigeria during ENDSARS, for Twitter, it was about the right to protest. But when a similar thing happened on the Capitol, it became insurrection. You see, we are not going to be fooled by anybody. We have a country to rule and we will do so to the best of our ability. Twitter mission in Nigeria citing those two examples is very suspect. What is their agenda?
