The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has berated the US media giant, Twitter, saying its mission in Nigeria is suspicious.
Twitter, on Tuesday deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet where he issued a threat to trouble makers in the country while making reference to Nigeria’s civil war.
The tech company had explained that President Buhari’s tweet violated its rules.
But reacting to the development while briefing State House reporters at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday in Abuja, the Minister accused Twitter of ignoring inciting tweets by the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and others, adding that Nigeria would not be fooled.
“We have a country to rule and we will do so to the best of our ability. Twitter’s mission in Nigeria is very suspect, they have an agenda,” Channels Television quoted the minister to have said.
He added: “The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious. Has Twitter deleted the violent tweets that Nnamdi Kanu has been sending? Has it? The same Twitter during the ENDSARS protests that were funding ENDSARS protesters, it was the first to close the account of the former president of the US, Trump.
“And you see when people were burning police stations and killing policemen in Nigeria during ENDSARS, for Twitter, it was about the right to protest. But when a similar thing happened on the Capitol, it became insurrection.”
He also noted Twitter displayed the same bias during the #EndSARS protests in October where government and private property were either looted or destroyed.
The minister queried what Twitter rule violated by President Buhari to have warranted his tweet to be deleted, wondering why previous tweets on #EndSARS protests were taken out.
Mohammed added: “Twitter may have its own rules, it’s not the universal rule. If Mr. President, anywhere in the world feels very bad and concern 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 centers, 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.”
President Buhari had during a meeting with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu on Tuesday, warned those plotting to destroy Nigeria, that they “will soon receive the shock of their lives.”
He also condemned the series of attacks on INEC facilities, stressing that the Federal Government had given the perpetrators enough time.
“I receive daily security reports on the attacks, and it is very clear that those behind them want this administration to fail,” Buhari said.