As the US gets hot and bothered about Nigeria suspending Twitter operation, claiming its violation of human rights, the federal government has hit back, describing them as a bunch of hypocrites.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spat out the latest rebuke, saying banning Twitter is not allowed in democracy.
But Information and Culture Minister said America is only out protecting its California-based tech giants in the guise of human rights—not that it loves Nigeria.
According to him, the EU and the UK are already working on social media regulations and wondered why Nigeria was being accused of stifling free speech.
“The EU has recommended the same thing and Britain only on Wednesday spoke about a law that would regulate the social media. This is why I say they are being hypocritical, he said during a programme on NTA.
“Like I said, I don’t like commenting on issues that have to do with relations with Nigeria and other countries but clearly speaking, they are being less than honest.”
Explaining how the federal government constantly reached out to Twitter to bring down divisive comments like those of separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who was fond of calling Nigeria a zoo, Mohammed said the social media platform never responded.
He asked Nigerians not to be deceived.
“We have seen so many foreign missions come up to condemn the action of Nigeria. Nigerians, please, make a distinction between countries that are trying to protect their economic and commercial interests from those countries that genuinely love you and talking about freedom of speech,” he said.
“And don’t forget for one minute that it is because there is a country called Nigeria that there is freedom of speech.”
He also dismissed the media stories Nigerians are losing money, adding the Nigerian government is not generating any money in tax from the social media platform.
Twitter has apparently eaten a humble pie, seeking an avenue for a roundtable with Nigeria since the ban took effect.
But the federal government has insisted on registering and taxing the all the social media platforms operating in Nigeria.
Peter Akintunde
June 12, 2021 at 2:53 am
Laid may be right to some extent but the perception and suspicion of people is that the ban came as a reterlation of Twitter action on Buhari’s Statement.