Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos says it is difficult to take a position for or against the ban on Twitter activities in Nigeria since he is not the President and does not have information available at his disposal.
He was reacting to questions on the Federal Government’s suspension of the micro blogging and social networking service’s operations in the country.
In an interview with Arise TV on Monday, the Lagos Governor said not having the same prognosis as the President and Commander in Chief, it is difficult for him to conclude that the action taken is either right or wrong.
According to him; “Why I would not want to unnecessarily join issues around the Twitter. Just last week, I was on a fact finding to some of the tech hubs in Lagos; flutter wave, impact hub… We went round to encourage our great youths who are entrepreneurs in that space and we’ll continue to support them…
“Regarding the specifics around Twitter, I cannot sit down here with all of the responsibilities that I have and fly the commander in chief of the armed forces.”
God Sanwo-Olu said the President has the “prognosis and security information that I do not have and I cannot begin to say what was done is right or wrong.”
He however said there is an urgent need for both sides, Twitter and the Federal Government, to have a round table discussions aimed at resolving the contentious issues at hand.
The governor further noted that; “On both sides, there are issues that can be resolved between Twitter and the Government and I think what they’ve done is not a ban but a suspension like they said, so in the period of suspension let us sit down… We need to have that conversation with them.”
The face-off between Twitter and the Federal Government boiled over last week when the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed announced the “indefinite” suspension of the platform.
The ban was conveyed in a statement signed by the Minister’s spokesman, Segun Adeyemi.
