The Federal Government of Nigeria, speaking through the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has disclosed what it terms Twitter’s plot against Nigeria.
The Minister made the revelation when he appeared on a live programme at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), ‘Good Morning Nigeria.’
In the course of the programme which was monitored and reported by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, Mohammed said that the microblogging platform had become the favourite for separatist groups in Nigeria.
He said that the groups freely aired agenda capable of promoting activities that could lead to chaos and a total collapse of the country.
He added that Nnamdi Kanu who stays comfortably in Europe, had been directing his followers to attack symbols of the country’s sovereignty through Twitter.
The Minister said that the Leader of IPOB succeeded in using the platform to direct his followers to attack policemen, military men, barracks and INEC offices among others.
According to him, “Before its suspension, we made several pleas to them to remove the tweets where Nigeria is described as a zoo where all of us are described as monkeys.
“We also pleaded to Twitter to delete the tweet where he said that if a Nigerian soldier enters into Biafra, it is death.
“Twitter however, said that those tweets did not offend their rules.
“It gets out of hand when attacks on police and military formations, police and army officers became unabated and we said at this point, we will need to suspend their operations,” the minister said.
He added that the mission of Twitter and its founder, Jack Dorsey, was suspect as they sponsored the #EndSARS protest which almost destabilised the country and led to the death of many, including destruction of public and private property.
Lai Mohammed insisted that Twitter funded the #EndSARS protest, his position was corroborated by the fact checks made by an online media outfit, ‘The Cable.’
“The online media concluded that on October 14, 2020, Dorsey actually retweeted some of the posts by some of the coalitions supporting the #EndSARS protest.
“On the same day, he launched a fundraising asking people to donate via Bitcoins.
“On October 16, 2020, Dorsey launched another Emoji to make the #EndSARS protest visible on the microblogging site.
“On October 20, 2020, he retweeted the tweets of some foreign and local supporters of #EndSARS.”
The minister said his claims were proven right by the investigations of ‘The Cable,’ including the fact that Twitter founder solicited donations to support #EndSARS.
“If you ask people to donate money via Bitcoin for #EndSARS protesters, then you are vicariously liable for whatever is the outcome of the protest.
“We have forgotten that #EndSARS led to the loss of lives, including 37 policemen, six soldiers, 57 civilians while property worth billions of Naira were destroyed.
“164 police vehicles and 134 police stations were razed t the ground, 265 private corporate organisations were looted while 243 public property were looted.
“81 warehouses were looted and we are now saying we don’t have a reason to ban Twitter,” he said.
The minister said it was unfair to conclude that the operation of Twitter was suspended indefinitely because it deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet.
He said the government was unambiguous that the action was taken because the platform was being used to promote the views of those who want the country to be divided.
On the timing of the suspension, the minister said the government had the right to determine when and where to make pronouncement on policy and action affecting the corporate existence of the country.
‘News Agency of Nigeria’
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