Shortly after the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration announced the suspension of the Twitter operation in Nigeria, Facebook has joined Twitter in banning President Buhari’s civil war controversial message on its platform, saying that it violates its standards and capable of inciting violence.
With this action, President Buhari’s entire message had been removed from Facebook following the ban on Twitter on Friday by the federal government.
“In line with our global policies, we have removed a post from President Buhari’s Facebook page for violating our community standards against inciting violence.
“We remove any content from individual or organisation that violates our policies on Facebook,” Facebook said.
Recall that President Buhari had made a post against the South East region of Nigeria via his official Facebook page early in the week when INEC management led by its chairman, submitted a report on attacks on its facilities across the country.
FG gives reasons for Twitter’s suspension in Nigeria
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has given reasons for the suspension of Twittwe’s operation in the country.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who announced the suspension in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, cited the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence, insisting that the platform’s mission in Nigeria is suspicious.
In the statement signed by Special Assistant To The President (Media) Office of the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, the Minister 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.
Recall that Twitter had on Wednesday deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari in which he threatened to punish pro-Biafra groups blamed for escalating attacks on government and security authorities.
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The social media firm said Buhari’s tweet violated its “abusive behaviour” policy, leading to a 12-hour suspension of his account.
The tweet promised a response to waves of attacks blamed on the Eastern Security Network (ESN), an armed group that emerged from the main pro-Biafran secessionist movement, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
However, in its response, the Federal Government of Nigeria yesterday condemned Twitter’s removal of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet, hinting that the platform’s mission in Nigeria is suspicious.
Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed says Twitter rules is not universal, saying the President’s tweet did not in any way incite violence.
Twitter ban shows level of FG’ foolishness— PDP
Also, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has described the federal government’s suspension of microblogging site, by the federal government as a demonstration of her foolishness among the community of civilized nations.
In a chat with newsmen, Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Diran Odeyemi slammed the Muhammadu Buhari-led presidency for what it called its “lawlessness and inability to abide by the rules governing operations of the Twitter community.”
“This is the height of foolishness. What does suspending or banning Twitter got to do with the cluelessness of this government? Do they think banning it will close the eyes of Nigerians and the international community to their failure to do things right?”, he asked.
The publicity scribe urged Nigerians, particularly those bold enough to speak truth to power not to be cowed in their quest for a better society, adding that at the appointed time, “this absurdity will give way to normalcy.”
