The Return of Twitter and Restoration of Sanity in Nigeria
By Salis Mohammed Manager
Cross quarter excitement has continued to trail Nigerian government’s lifting of its suspension on Twitter operations more than six months after it first declared a ban on the social media giant in the country.
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the Director-General of Nigeria’s apex IT regulator, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), made the announcement via a statement on Wednesday which was broken by PRNigeria.
Mr Inuwa was in charge, as chairman, of the committee (Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement) set up by the Nigerian government to oversee talks between the West African nation and micro-blogging services compmay after the ban.
The chairman said the approval was given following a memo written by the country’s minister of Communications and Digital Economy to the President, Muhammadu Buhari. Following the announcement, the ban was lifted immediately by midnight, January 13, 2022.
If one happens to be a careful follower of the unfolding events, one may recall that sometime in 2021 the Federal Government of Nigerian through the Ministry of Information and Culture announced the suspension of Twitter, sequel to deleting a statement made by the Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.
But that was not the first time Twitter’s meddlesomeness caused a stir that threatened Nigeria’s security and stability.
The platform’s tacit support of highly seditious and divisive messages championed by unpatriotic Nigerians led by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has always remained a thing of national security concern.
Not done, in October 2020, the EndSARS protest which clamoured for police reforms had started on a commendable note until elements of destruction hijacked the protest and used the same Twitter platform for spurious claims and dangerous incitements which tore the nation across ethno-religious lines.
In fact, security facilities were razed, personnel brutally murdered and the country gradually descended into anarchy until we had a divine intervention that checked the situation.
It was within that same period that some angry protesters waving the Nigerian flag — chanted, “Who is a bad boy? Buhari is a bad boy!” referring to President Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
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Tweeting all these without commiserate necessary action from Twitter management was bound to put Nigeria in an awkward situation until the federal government took necessary action. If this mess had been allowed to continue, by now we will not be talking about Nigeria as an existing sovereignty.
There is no denying the fact that Twitter has been used as a tool to disrupt the country’s unity and peaceful coexistence that was labored for by our heroes past.
From the history of Twitter’s modus operandi, this is not the first time they are having a collision course with sovereign powers.
As of 2019, the governments of China, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia Burma, Cuba, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates blocked access to the social networking platform in their countries as a result of its wrong usage to promote evil agenda.
Banning Twitter is the best decision taken so far by this administration. If I were the president I would take a similar measure as the safety and security of the people of this country matters more than anything else.
Violent crises have always proven costly to lives and property. Like we witnessed in the SAP Riots of 1989 and the “Ali Must Go” crisis that rocked the country in 1978. The slogan “Ali Must Go” was adopted against the then Federal Commissioner of Education Col. Ahmadu Ali during the General Olusegun Obasanjo military regime.
Let’s not forget that scores of students lost their lives during the protest that started when the federal government increased the meal ticket of students in tertiary institutions from 50 Kobo to N1.50 Kobo and then to N2.00.
The June 12 protests against the military regime of General Sani Abacha had scores of people killed; students inclusive. The journey for a better Nigeria it seems would be forged through the series of agitations.
A lot of the people who were part of protests in the 70s, 80s, and 90s are probably in their 50s and 60s some even dead by now.
The unity of our country is bigger than an individual or organization’s interest as we have a mandate to promote peaceful coexistence of our country. We must have a country first. The greatest impediment to progress, unity and stability in Nigeria are protests that may lead to crises.
Let’s have a nation where the action of a stupid, drunken man or woman defecating near a church or a mosque in some remote part of the country would mean that death sentences are not passed on innocent Nigerians residing somewhere else.
One thing is sure as things unfold that; posterity will hold us all accountable for the future we leave for the unborn children.
Twitter’s acceptance of the federal government’s terms is a highly welcome development. Either way you choose to look at it, Nigeria had the big win and so shall it always be.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Salis Mohammed Manager writes from Kano and can be reached via [email protected]
