Rambling Alleyway Of An Abhorrent Tweet

BY SIMON REEF MUSA

President Muhammadu Buhari rarely speaks on issues to please citizens of his country. When the stern-looking former soldier penultimate Tuesday deployed the civil-war analogy in warning Biafra against violence and destruction in a tweet that was termed hate-inciting, Twitter quickly deleted his tweet and suspended his official handle @MBuhari for 12 hours.

Like it was in 1984 when his jackboot regime was engaged in a diplomatic row with Britain over the foiled deportation of the former minister of transport, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, the government suspended indefinitely operations of the microblogging social media platform in Nigeria. Twitter users were not only surprised but at the same time awed.

If the initial response to the removal of Buhari’s tweet caused jubilation among social media activists that had condemned his tweet by pro-Biafran proponents, the announcement by Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, that those who patronise the social networking platform risk jail introduced a new twist to the unfolding drama. As lawyers and campaigners of digital freedom poured into their books to ascertain under which laws using twitter may constitute an offence, a group of lawmakers in Nigeria’s National Assembly called on citizens to disregard the government’s strange directive.

Standing up against IPOB’s belligerency

Despite condemnation of Buhari over his tough talk on Biafra and the threat to deal with IPOB members and its military wing, eastern Security Network (ESN), Twitter seems to have been pushed to the walls in cleansing itself of double standards.

Considering the reclusiveness of the Buhari administration in dealing with enemies of the state having their field day in various parts of the country, his tweet is seen as a war cry against distraught citizens seeking freedom to express their potentials. Amidst the outcry of military operations that have led to killing of Igbo youths and a frighteningly spiraling violence, Buhari’s tweet is interpreted as a prologue to an aggressive military operations aimed at crushing rebellion in the South-east.

Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and presidential candidate during the 2019 polls, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, says the president’s tweet is a recreation of the horrifying trauma the South-east was subjected to during the civil war years. He cautioned against the use of words that are capable of reminding citizens of that dark past that had remain an open sore.

Less than 24-hours after the ban on Twitter, many tweets by the IPOB leader that had drawn the angst of Nigerian government were also yanked off.

It is obvious that pulling down the tweet by the Nigerian president has sparked off row in many social media platforms, with many impugning several motives. Those opposed to the tweet spoken against the slap-on-the-wrist posture for terror gangs in the North that have left on their trails destruction and decimation of communities.

Under the heat of opponents  

Various countries, including United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, among others, have appealed on the Buhari-led government to soft-pedal and unban the popular network that has provided succour and job for thousands of Nigeria’s jobless youths. The former military general who swore that he is now born again democrat before assuming reins of government in 2015 became deaf and dumb to the pleas of international communities.

Top officials of the government have accused Twitter of double standards in lending its platform for groups threatening the sovereignty of the country. The Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, flayed twitter for quickly deleting Buhari’s tweet while allowing that of the IPOB leader who has gained notoriety for calling out his members to murder security operatives and destroying national infrastructure.

The rising welters of insecurity in the South-east, top security rednecks believe, is more or less hinged on violent messages Twitter permits on its platform to undermine the sovereignty of the Nigerian state. Deleting Buhari’s tweet and not pulling down Kanu’s tweets, according to the proponents of this viewpoint, does not lend credence to assertion by the social media platform of treating all its users on equal terms.

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has described the suspension of Twitter operation as a “petulant act” that must not be. Former Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have all threatened the government with legal fireworks as they all cited the suspension as a breach of the rights of Nigerians to free speech.

The suspension of Twitter, according to Nigeria’s former Minister of Aviation and acerbic critic of the Buhari’s administration, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, is gross violation of the people’s right to freedom of expression. The deleted tweet of the president, Fani-Kayode insists, is nothing less of inciting hatred for the Igbos.

“What government ought to do is to apologise for the massacre against the Igbos and build consensus among Nigeria’s divisive ethnic groups that have been thrown into a depth of suspicion arising from the manner government has treated citizens since assuming power in May 2015.

Last Wednesday, members of the country’s main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives staged a walkout to protest the ban on Twitter. The PDP had called on developed nations, including the USA. UK, to come hard on Buhari for banning the popular social networking platform.

Now that politicians are involved in flaming the smokes of disputation over the matter, not a few are predicting rancorous weeks and months ahead before final resolution. Though Twitter has assured both the government and its more than 40 million users of its willingness to resolve the matter, the government seems not favourable disposed to negotiate with Twitter that recently deleted all offensive tweets of Kanu.

Why others support Buhari  

The decision to ban the social media platform, has not been without backing from other groups. Apart from top government officials that have no choice but support the administration, many others that are worried by the carnage unleashed by IPOB in the South-east have continued to applaud the government to express Nigeria’s displeasure over the deliberate attempt by the global megaphone network to threaten country.

Kaduna-based legal practitioner Bitrus Gwadah is worried that while all those protesting the twitter ban were silent as Kanu’s tweets galvanised perpetrators of violence to unleash massive destruction, they have now found their voices in the suspension of social media operation in the country.

“Kanu’s tweets, the legal practitioner claims, have led to the destruction of national infrastructure and promoting activities towards the undermining of the Nigerian state. Allowing IPOB to have access to twitter platform by such renegade groups has increased the spates destruction and render the prospect of doing business in the South-east difficult.”

Who blinks first?

It is apparent that considering the crucial gains by the social networking platform in financial terms, non-resolution of the face-off may cast a long shadow in the finances of Twitter. Realising that the giant social media megaphone has expressed willingness to resolve the face-off as quickly as possible, Nigerian government may not be in a hurry for talks.

No matter what happens, international pressure and the willingness of the Buhari government to soften its hard posturing  remains key in resolving this showdown over an abhorrent tweet that has further divided the polity.