NIGERIA VS TWITTER: If you don’t want to react in ignorance, note this – Patriotic Nigerians

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Patriotic Nigerians raising Nigeria Flags against insecurity and insensitive citizenship.

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By OUR REPORTER

“Twitter banned the President of its own country for using their medium to encourage insurrection in their own country but allowed the Kanus, FFKs and Sowores to encourage genocide in Nigeria. I promise you that if these people had made even close to similar tweets inciting Nigerians living in the US or UK against the US or UK government, Twitter would not only have taken down their tweets, but would have also banned them from all social media platforms and the US/UK government would have included them in their terror watchlist.”

Following Friday 4 June 2021 announcement of a ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria for supporting terrorism against the country, which the American social media networking platform does not allow in its home country, many surprises happened as people, who are thought to be learned enough to identify what is wrong from right and recognise a terrorist/criminal against the patriot/law abiding citizen, let loose in the open kicking against the Federal Government’s action.
One of the several Nigerians, who spoke to The DEFENDER particularly stated that he was biffed mainly by the unfortunate reactions some of the “ignorant reacters” have made because, according to him, “they appeared to be with us while we were calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to please stop watching the evil ones perpetrating their insecurity in parts of the country and so must take action against them.”
He said it was therefore sad to note that “these same elements, among them known lawyers, respected journalists, even professors, political and ethnic leaders of a particular region in the country were the first on the front roll to kick and queue behind Twitter, when it was banned for allowing terrorist IPOB’s tweets instigating war run continuously on its platform, while going ahead to delete the tweets of caution by President Muhammadu Buhari, meaning that Twitter finally exposed itself as tool for the promotion of insecurity in Nigeria.”
Another Patriotic Nigerian, who spoke at length, said: “For those who do not want to react to things in ignorance, please note that Nigeria is protesting the bias of Twitter towards it. Some want to deceive you, with their long essays written in well-polished English, that it is about taking down the President’s tweet. No! Not at all!
“It is much bigger and more complicated than that. It is about Twitter allowing a few persons to use their platform to threaten the peace and sovereignty of over 200 million people by spewing hate and inciting violence, at the same time, denying our government the opportunity to warn these few miscreants. You may say that the government should have let this slide “since it was just once.” You may even say that the FG has used a sledgehammer to kill a fly, but remember that you have attacked the FG for being slow and weak in handling little issues until they grow bigger than it can handle, something I also hate about it.
“Twitter banned the President of its own country for using their medium to encourage insurrection in their own country but allowed the Kanus, FFKs and Sowores to encourage genocide in Nigeria. I promise you that if these people had made even close to similar tweets inciting Nigerians living in the US or UK against the US or UK government, Twitter would not only have taken down their tweets, but would have also banned them from all social media platforms and the US/UK government would have included them in their terror watchlist.
“Well, I believe that the suspension of Twitter by the FG is temporary and is just a protest against the ‘involuntary’ role of Twitter in setting this country ablaze (there is serious punishment for involuntary manslaughter even in law).
“You can insult, attack and curse all day. The only thing we learn from that is that you value your Twitter account more than this country. It is clear that you do not care even if this country will burn to ashes as long as you will continue to tweet.
“If you are outraged that you have been temporarily blocked from socialising, note that some people have, as a result of the activities of some on the same medium, been permanently blocked from this life.
“Therefore, our message to you is simple – there was Nigeria before you and Twitter and there will be Nigeria far after you and Twitter. There will not just be Nigeria, there will be a better Nigeria!”
In an earlier report by the general media including The DEFENDER, Nebojsa Malic, a Serbian-American journalist, blogger and translator, wrote a response to Buhari’s critics saying as highlighted below:
 

Buhari’s critics have argued that the ban is “not in keeping with democracy, the rule of law, and the independence of the media.” But Twitter’s censorship is? Who’s in charge here, an elected government of a sovereign country, or a corporation on the other side of the world? That’s really the question here.

 

Malic said: “Nigeria is a far more serious and “based” country than the US, at least if President Muhammadu Buhari’s response to Twitter censorship – compared to that of Donald Trump’s – is anything to go by.

“The government in Abuja announced on Friday it had “indefinitely suspended” the US-based platform, following Twitter’s censorship of Buhari. The move was made because of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence,” said Information Minister Lai Mohammed.

“Nigeria’s TV and press regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), will also start the process of “licensing” all social media platforms in the country, the government said. In a twist of irony, the decision was announced on Twitter.

“The Nigerian government also missed an easy opportunity to clobber Twitter with its own wokeness cudgel and accuse CEO Jack Dorsey of being racist and Islamophobic – considering Buhari is both African and Muslim.

“All that aside, however, Abuja’s response stands in stark contrast to that of official Washington from a year ago, when Twitter censored then-US President Donald Trump – and then the White House account – citing the same pretext of “glorifying violence” or “threatening harm” to individuals or groups. Trump responded by signing an executive order intended to crack down on social media censorship… and nothing happened.

“The career bureaucrats in DC simply ignored the president’s orders and stood by while Twitter, Facebook and YouTube helped ‘fortify’ the 2020 elections in favor of Democrat Joe Biden – who revoked Trump’s order last month, without bothering to offer an explanation.

“Trump’s toothless response to censorship eventually led to Twitter banning his account after the January 6 Capitol riot – while he was still the sitting president – and the other Big Tech platforms following suit. Not only is he banned from having an account, but others interviewing him will get censored for daring to broadcast his “voice.”

“Yet most of the US media and civil libertarian groups see nothing wrong with this, and are even arguing that such censorship – using corporations as proxies for the government – isn’t violating the First Amendment.

“The entire democratic world seems to have no trouble seeing how menacing it is for democracy to have our political discourse policed by Silicon Valley monopolists, while pressured by political parties.Only US liberals & their journalists can’t see it. They’re pro-censorship.

“By contrast, it took Nigeria two days to respond to Twitter’s censorship of its president with a ban on the platform. It may only amount to a symbolic gesture, but it sends a clear message to San Francisco that this kind of behavior by Big Tech will not be tolerated.

“Buhari’s critics have argued that the ban is “not in keeping with democracy, the rule of law, and the independence of the media.” But Twitter’s censorship is? Who’s in charge here, an elected government of a sovereign country, or a corporation on the other side of the world? That’s really the question here.

“Because the American civil war ended in 1865, and long passed out of living memory, Biden may be able to get away with pseudo-historical narratives comparing the Capitol riot to it. Nigeria’s civil war against the Biafran separatists ended in 1970, and claimed more lives. So when Buhari warns those currently “misbehaving” that its veterans will treat them “in the language they understand,” that is indeed a threat – to separatists.

“When it censored Trump on the same grounds a year ago, Twitter had posted messages in support of Black Lives Matter, making its politics abundantly clear. The Nigerian government looked at the company banning Buhari but not the current Biafran leader, and concluded that Twitter supported separatists. No government can tolerate that and survive for long, any more than having corporations dictate the terms of their politics – as Trump’s own experience clearly showed.”

Nebojsa Malic is a Serbian-American journalist, blogger and translator, who wrote a regular column for Antiwar.com from 2000 to 2015, and is now senior writer at RT. Follow him on Telegram @TheNebulator and on Twitter @NebojsaMalic
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/525727-nigeria-twitter-ban-censorship-trump/?fbclid=IwAR2x3XXEMhdLr5A90F3LcKbXKa1itCZnzQE5JxYbwVScvQ-YPvu3yfLCC8E


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