The Federal Government said it suspended Twitter operations in Nigeria mainly because the platform was promoting fake news and misinformation in the country, what do you make of this?
The main cause is the alleged deletion of the President’s tweet on the Indigenous People of Biafra and I believe the Presidency should have handled this in a different way. Even though the platform was totally banned, Twitter is not the only online platform in the country. What will happen is that people will migrate to other platforms. What I am saying in essence is that suspending Twitter is never a solution to any retribution, because there are others with similar outreach that people can go to. I think the President should have been better advised.
The government should have engaged them and let them see the negative things they have been doing, which the government is not satisfied with and if they have explanations to offer, good and if they do not, then the government can do what it likes. But when you just take a decision like this, there are always reactions to things that are negative. They should have gone through the method of engagement and discussion.
Do you think the President should have made such a statement in the first place?
When you occupy a public position, you cannot react like a private person. He is the father of all; he has the good, the bad and the ugly under his watch. This is the number one person in the country; he has to be a super human. I expected his handles to have known better.
The Federal Government is also mulling licensing all social media operations in the country, do you see this as a way of suppressing peoples’ right of expression?
Until we have a law on that, I don’t want to speculate. Nigeria is a country governed by laws; the policy cannot become a law until there is a law to back it up. That can at best be called a policy at the moment; let us wait and see till it becomes a law, then we will be able to say if it is in consonance with the constitution and other laws of the land or not.The Federal Government also accused Twitter of double standards by claiming that inciting tweets from other persons, including Nnamdi Kalu, were not deleted; is Twitter guilty?
This is unfortunate. How can you compare Nnamdi Kanu with the President? Kanu is a citizen of our country. Buhari is the President of Nigeria; if you compare the two, what you are saying is that they are of equal status. That is an inadvertent development. Anything Kanu says doesn’t carry weight as compared to the President, otherwise you are promoting him.
Does the suspension of Twitter in any way infringe on the rights of the citizens?
The right to express and pass information is fundamental and guaranteed in our constitution; anything stopping this has gone contrary to the law. There are laws to check those who abuse these laws. These laws are inalienable. For me, it is better to allow information to flow than restrict it, which is much more dangerous. You can go after somebody who publishes something seditious, but when you deny them the opportunity to say these things in the open, they will go underground and discuss it; this can bring about problems. If you remember during the military regime, when some newspapers were proscribed, all they did was to go underground and started to produce elsewhere. When you do things like this, you are encouraging people to be more innovative to beat whatever measures you have put in place.
Despite the suspension, many Nigerians, industries and organisations are still using the micro-blogging site; does this not amount to civil disobedience?
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It is the breach of the law; the law punishes; that is, in Nigeria, you are punished when you breach a law. That law must define its offence; that is what the constitution says. This is at best a directive or an unwritten law; you can breach an unwritten law. You cannot be held liable for a law that has not stated its offences and consequences.
What then should be made of the threat by the Attorney-General of the Federation?
Why don’t you wait until that happens?
With the widespread condemnation that has greeted the government’s action, especially from the United States of America and Canada, among others, do you think it will be right for the Federal Government to rescind its decision?
Do we really need external pressure to rescind a decision like this? Honestly, we do not; the disadvantages of the suspension for us are more than the advantages. Why will you do this and give yourself a negative face where there are other options available? We are at the losing end. The Federal Government should rescind its decision.
Some loyalists of this regime have said countries like France, Egypt and China, among others, have taken action against Twitter, what do you make of their justification?
Nigeria is Nigeria and we should not compare ourselves with other countries on a matter like this. We should align ourselves with countries that respect fundamental rights. Like I said earlier, Nigerians have the right to express themselves and pass information; anything contrary to this is against the law. Allow people to say what they want to say even if they do not agree with you.
With the action of the government, do you think the management of the micro-blogging site was right to choose Ghana ahead of Nigeria for its regional office?
They are a business organisation and would have done their homework before making such a decision. But what it tells us is that as a country, we need to make our environment more conducive for business to thrive. I do not know if we have been able to fathom why they left Nigeria with a large population for Ghana with a small population that is not larger than that of Lagos and make amendments where necessary. We need to question our business environment. We should retrospect and do the needful.Copyright PUNCH.
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