Social media platform, Facebook, on Friday deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s civil war statement for violating its community standards against inciting violence.
This came as the federal government on Friday announced the suspension of the operations of micro-blogging and social networking platform, Twitter, in Nigeria.
Twitter had earlier deleted the same tweet by the president, threatening punishment for regional secessionists.
The minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced Twitter’s suspension in a statement issued in Abuja.
He said the persistent use of the platform for activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
The minister said the federal government has also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
Facebook, in reiterating its commitment to remove any content from individuals or organisations that violates its policies, said “In line with global policies, we’ve removed a post from President Buhari’s Facebook page for violating our community standards against inciting violence. We remove any content from individuals or organisations that violate our policies on Facebook.”
In a reaction on his Twitter handle, former Senate president, Bukola Saraki, faulted the ban, saying that shouldn’t be the response from the government.
The tweet read: “No Sir! This should not be the response from the president of a nation with a vibrant youthful population for whom #Twitter is part of their daily lives and a source of their income and livelihood. This must be reviewed.
Also, civil society organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), condemned the government’s action and called on the government to rescind the suspension within 48hours or face legal action.
SERAP in a statement by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said the suspension was a blatant violation of Nigerians’ rights to freedom of expression and access to information.
“The suspension has the character of collective punishment that is contrary to Nigeria’s international obligations. President Buhari must immediately rescind this unconstitutional suspension,” the statement read in part.
