Micro-blogging platform, Twitter, has deleted the tweet by President Buhari suggesting that the state would visit the violence of the civil war on those who did not experience it and are misbehaving.
The tweet, which was posted on Tuesday, read in part, “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
Many Nigerians condemned the tweet as a threat to commit human rights violations.
Following several complaints, Twitter deleted the offending tweet.
A comment by Twitter stated, “This Tweet violated the Twitter rules.”
The social media giant had earlier in the year banned then United States President, Donald Trump, for his inciting comments which led to the attack on the US Congress.
The Federal Government has criticised the decision to delete the president’s tweet, stating that Twitter’s mission in Nigeria was suspicious.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, while addressing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, accused Twitter of being complicit in the polarisation of Nigerians.
He said, “Twitter may have its own rule but it’s not the universal rule.
“If Mr President feels very bad and concerned 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, when an organisation gives directives to its members, to attack police stations, to kill policemen, to attack correctional centres, to kill warders, and you are now saying that Mr President does not have the right to express his dismay and anger about that, then you are the one guilty of double standards.”
Referring to the Indigenous People of Biafra and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, Mohammed said there was no reason to justify a leader who “stays somewhere outside Nigeria, and directs his members to attack the symbols of authority, the police, the military, especially when that organisation has been proscribed.”
He added that no one could justify giving orders to kill policemen or “anybody you do not agree with.”
He said, “The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious. Has Twitter deleted the violent tweets that Nnamdi Kanu has been sending? Has it?
“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 an insurrection.
“You see, we are not going to be fooled by anybody. We have a country to rule and we will do so to the best of our ability. Twitter mission in Nigeria citing those two examples is very suspect. What is their agenda?
“How does Mr President’s speech that anybody who is destroying infrastructure, police offices and INEC offices should be ready for the consequences, inciting violence?”
To the question of why the Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, who openly defended the deadly Boko Haram terrorist group, had not been picked, Mohammed said, “you are again mixing things.”
He said anyone asking about Gumi had to be specific about the very comments made that incited violence.
“If you want to ask any question about Gumi or any other person, go ahead but please, be objective.
“There are so many people who have been spewing hate against Mr President, against this government.
“If we were to pick up everybody today who had been abusing this administration, the detention centres will be filled up and you will be the first person also to talk about lack of tolerance, lack of rule of law.
“But I’m saying that you cannot compare anybody with Nnamdi Kanu who boldly says, ‘go and kill policemen.’
“Policemen are also brothers, they are our uncles, they are someone’s children.
“When we kill them, their wives become widows, their children become orphans. And what is the offence of these policemen?
“They are working to keep the country one. What about soldiers that are laying down their lives so that you and I can sleep?
“It is not acceptable anywhere in the world for anybody, anywhere, to stay in the comfort of wherever he is and now give directives to go and kill soldiers and policemen.”
