The Twitter Ban: Another View

I first heard about Twitter during my final year at OAU, Ife, in 2011. I neither knew how it worked nor how to even be a part at the time. I only knew of Facebook which I rarely used since Twitter users made themselves appear like an elitist, members-only club. I didn’t open a Twitter account until three years later. This is how I became, like most users, addicted to the network ever since, largely running political commentaries and advocating social changes.

Like many people, I was affected by the sudden, and rather harsh decision of the Nigerian government to suspend Twitter operations in the country. The government followed this swiftly by directing telecommunications networks to carry out the decision to the letter. This was obviously not a decision anyone welcomed, including me.

Since the Nigerian government announced the suspension of Twitter operations, there has been series of reactions to the development – even from those who have never tweeted or opened Twitter in their lives. This is understandable when we consider the fact that Twitter has become popular as a source of news for many media stations and entertainment for young internet users. However, we may need to take away sentiments or emotions in other to set records straight or put issues in proper perspectives.

Many reactions on this issue have come from the background that it was wrong for the government to have swiftly responded with an indefinite suspension after Twitter deleted President Muhammad Buhari’s tweets. The strength of this argument lies in the fact that Twitter has previously deleted the tweets and account of President Donald Trump of the United States in December 2020. With this, they saw nothing wrong with Twitter’s action on Buhari.

Anyone familiar with US politics leading to Twitter deleting Trump’s account will clearly see the folly in this line of thought. First, Twitter deleted Trump’s tweets after several warnings. There’s no such warning to President Buhari. This, in itself, is disrespectful to, perhaps, the most powerful political office in Black Africa. Second, Twitter only deleted Trump’s tweets after it became clear he’s, for all practical purposes, lost his reelection. It would have had serious implications on Twitter to delete Trump’s account if he had won the November election. Twitter knows this for a fact. The implication of deleting a sitting president’s tweets, without a previous warning, is the heat Twitter currently faces in Nigeria.

Let’s even look at the deleted tweet dropping our toga of emotionalism and stepping out of collective rage. The tweet that arsonists, looters, criminals who are hell-bent on destroying democratic institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s facilities, police formations, public offices in some parts of the country will be spoken to “in the language they understand”, cannot mean “genocide” if we’re to be honest. Twitter is a US-based private company. Did the US government roll out the red carpet for those who violently invaded the Capitol Building last year? When the US government released the National Guard against the insurrectionists, did Twitter or any other liberal media make a fuss about their human rights? Don’t people have the right to freedom of expression anymore? If Trump’s supporters felt cheated during the election, as we’ve been made to believe, don’t they have the right to express themselves like anyone else, say Africans? Or, is Twitter’s case that of the wolf knows how to breastfeed its own child but devours the children of other animals? Why were US insurrectionists met with force without any international condemnation, albeit from Twitter? What was Twitter’s “holier than thou” position at the time? Is Twitter hoping the President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces – a position he got under the 1999 Constitution – will continue to watch while some over pampered outlaws continue their sustained attacks on democratic institutions and wreak havoc on the lives and properties of innocent citizens?

Even though the nation strives to improve its democratic profile, no country – not even Jack Dorsey (Twitter’s CEO)’s United States – will tolerate the activities of a terrorist group like Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) under the guise of freedom of speech. Will Twitter have provided a platform for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – who made an audacious attempt to assassinate prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984 under the guise that IRA is fighting for Irish “home rule” and expect the UK to watch hopelessly? Twitter only started finding out that Nnamdi Kanu (IPOB’ leader)’s tweets violated their rules after the decision of the Nigerian government to suspend their operations. That Twitter even took this action alone confirms some fears that the company is an international agent of destabilization.

Those who argued that the Nigerian government should not have suspended Twitter for deleting Buhari’s tweet are either super-emotional or simply trying to be dubious. The Nigerian government has so many problems we citizens can complain about, but a foreign company disrespecting the Office of the President of a sovereign state is beyond any means of tolerance to start with. IPOB’s continuous use of Twitter as a means of propagating hatred, sponsoring violence, and other nefarious activities under the guise of freedom of speech is not what anyone should tolerate.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of India called for suspension of more than 1,000 Twitter accounts and posts, over disseminated false information about the protests and India’s agricultural laws. Twitter restored their access, including those of violent separatist leaders in the country. The government responded by taking firm action against Twitter and launching a rival social platform, Koo. It was after the Indian government’s firm decision that the blue verified badge on the Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu’s personal Twitter handle – previously stripped off – was restored. A nation won’t lose its sovereignty just to keep a foreign private company happy.
Olalekan Adigun, Lagos