BY LINUS CHIBUIKE
THE Federal Government has accused Twitter of playing double standards on issues concerning Nigeria’s domestic affairs.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said Twitter’s role in Nigeria was suspect.
He spoke after Twitter deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweets, which warned armed secessionists in the SOUTH-EAST region that the Presidency would deal with them in the language they understood.
The minister said Twitter had not been fair to Nigeria.
“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” Buhari had tweeted.
Reacting, Mohammed said, “Twitter may have its own rules; it’s not the universal rule. If Mr. President, anywhere in the world feels very bad and concerned about a situation, he is free to express such views. Now, we should stop comparing apples with oranges. If an organisation is proscribed, it is different from any other which is not proscribed.
“Two, any organisation that gives directives to its members, to attack police stations, to kill policemen, to attack correctional centres, to kill warders, and you are now saying that Mr. President does not have the right to express his dismay and anger about that? We are the ones guilty of double standards.”
“I don’t see anywhere in the world where an organisation, a person will stay somewhere outside Nigeria, and will direct his members to attack the symbols of authority, the police, the military, especially when that organisation has been proscribed. By whatever name, you can’t justify giving orders to kill policemen or to kill anybody you do not agree with,” he said.
