PDP governors: Buhari’s ego not enough to ban Twitter

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum has tackled the President Muhammadu Buhari administration over its decision to indefinitely suspend Twitter in Nigeria.

In a communique issued after their meeting on Monday, the governors said the ban on Twitter will worsen the country’s unemployment crisis.

The federal government suspended Twitter on June 4, stating that the microblogging platform is being used to threaten Nigeria’s peaceful coexistence.

But despite the government’s claim, many Nigerians have argued the action was taken because Twitter had deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet three days earlier.

After their meeting in Akwa Ibom, the PDP governors said in the communique that the president should review the ban on Twitter in Nigeria “in national interest”.

“The meeting examined the suspension of Twitter from operating in Nigeria, and condemned the personalised reasons given for the action,” the communique reads.

“The mere ego of Mr President is not enough for such a drastic action that deprives millions of Nigerians of such an affordable means of expression and communication. We hope that this is not a harbinger or early warning signs of descent into dictatorship.

“The meeting noted that social media regulation can only be done within the existing laws on the subject and should not be used as an attempt to punish or gag Nigerians from enjoying constitutionally guaranteed rights.

“Nigerian youths do not have adequate access to employment and a lot of Nigerians rely on Twitter for their livelihood, businesses and self-employment.

“This will further worsen Nigeria’s 33% unemployment rate which is the highest in the world, improve Nigerians ranking as the country with the second-highest poverty rate in the entire world, all of which happened under APC’s unfortunate stewardship.”