The Federal Government has alleged that Twitter Chief Executive Officer, Jack Dorsey, was liable for the loss of lives and property suffered by the country during the EndSARS protest last year.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this on Tuesday while speaking on a Radio Nigeria call-in programme monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said the actions of Dorsey such as supporting fundraising through Bitcoins and retweets of some of the posts made by the coalitions supporting the EndSARS protest further fueled the crisis.
Mohammed said Dorsey further launched Emoji to make the EndSARS protest trend on the microblogging site.
He added,“If you ask people to donate money via bitcoins for EndSARS protesters, then you are vicariously liable for whatever is the outcome of the protest.
“We have forgotten that EndSARS led to loss of lives, including 37 policemen, six soldiers, 57 civilians while property worth billions of naira were destroyed.
“164 police vehicles and 134 police stations were razed to the ground, 265 private corporate organisation were looted while 243 public property were looted.
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“81 warehouses were looted while over 200 brand new buses bought by Lagos State Government were burnt to ashes,’’ he said.
According to him, the ban on the use of the social media platform was because the platform was being used to promote the views of those who wanted to destabilise the country.
Mohammed added that Twitter consistently offered its platform to promote agendas that were detrimental to the corporate existence of Nigeria.
He added, “Twitter has become a platform of choice for a particular separatist promoter.
“The promoter consistently used the platform to direct his loyalists to kill Nigerian soldiers and policemen, run down INEC offices and destroy all symbols of Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“Every attempt to persuade Twitter to deny its platform to this separatist leader was not taken serious,’’ he said.
