The Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, has defended the tweet that sparked outrage on social media and subsequently taken down.
He said, in a statement on Saturday, that the tweet was in fact a “statement of fact” and “not a threat”, as the secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) – whom President Muhammadu Buhari referred to in the now-deleted tweet -“poses” high-level threat to Nigerians.
Garba admitted that Twitter’s removal of the president’s tweet was “disappointing”, stating that the “censoring” was rooted in a “misunderstanding” of challenges besieging the country today.
He attributed the increased rate of violence observed across the world to social media, referencing the “shock and startle” expressed by the president over the New Zealand massacre incident where 50 Muslim adherents were killed at two mosques in Christchurch in the country.
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Garba added that the products of “major tech companies” were breeding grounds for the propagation of xenophobic, racist narratives, calling on them to be “alive to their responsibilities”.
He said, “There has been a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real-world violent consequences.
“All the while, the company has escaped accountability. Nevertheless, the removal of President Buhari’s tweet was disappointing. The censoring seemed based on a misunderstanding of the challenges Nigeria faces today.
“The President in his address at the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA in 2019 said, ‘the world was shocked and startled by the massacre in New Zealand by a lone gunman taking the lives of 50 worshippers.’”
“This and similar crimes which have been fueled by social media networks risk seeping into the fabric of an emerging digital culture.
“Major tech companies must be alive to their responsibilities. They cannot be allowed to continue to facilitate the spread of religious, racist, xenophobic and false messages capable of inciting whole communities against each other, leading to the loss of many lives. This could tear some countries apart.
“President Buhari has therefore been warning against social media’s disruptive and divisive influences and the government’s action is not a knee-jerk reaction to Twitter’s preposterous deletion of his tweet which should have been read in full.
“The tweet was not a threat, but a statement of fact.
“A terrorist organisation (IPOB) poses a significant threat to the safety and security of Nigerian citizens.
“When the President said that they will be treated “in a language they understand,” he merely reiterated that their force shall be met with force. It is a basic principle of security services response the world over.
“This is not the promotion of hate, but a pledge to uphold citizens’ right to freedom from harm. The government cannot be expected to capitulate to terrorists.
“IPOB is proscribed under Nigerian law. Its members murder innocent Nigerians. They kill policemen and set government property on fire. Now, they have amassed a substantial stockpile of weapons and bombs across the country.
“Twitter does not seem to appreciate the national trauma of our country’s civil war. This government shall not allow a recurrence of that tragedy.”
