Nigerians have taken to social media to mock President Muhammadu Buhari-led’s government over the announcement that the Twitter ban has been lifted.
The Nigerian government had on 5th June 2021 suspended the operation of Twitter through an announcement made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alh Lai Mohammed.
However, the Nigerian government announced on Wednesday that the ban has been lifted after Twitter agreed to demands for working in the country.
Meanwhile, Nigerians mocked the announcement with many stating that they never left the social media platform.
One of them, Frank Edoho said: “The Federal Government should just say they have decided to come back to Twitter instead of claiming to lift the ban.”
Another Twitter user, @michael_sings said, “so funny, we have been using Twitter since the empty ban was announced. Welcome back Nigerian government, not Nigerians.”
Nigerians also took to the platform to criticize presidential aide Garba Shehu after his first Twitter post on Thursday morning since the ban of the social media platform.
Shehu had welcomed Nigerians back to Twitter, he wrote: “We hope that this (lifting of the Twitter ban) be appreciated by all. The nation comes first. Once again, welcome back!”
Below are some of the comments on Shehu’s post.
@IamTheIroko said: “The nation comes first and you shut down a platform of commerce and interaction for 7months because your ego was bruised?”
@Charleschizu said: “Sir, what are the immeasurable achievements. Kindly enlighten us.
“As of today, Twitter does not succumb to any of your demands they didn’t make any statement that they would or plan to. If they did show us.
“APC Government is just taking laws into their hand. We wait for u in 2023.”
Proudly Nigerian @max20ebi: By taking away the rights of Nigerians to freely express themselves and critique the activities of the government of the day. You can not silence the people who are determined to make a change. May God visit you and treat you the way you and your principal are treating Nigerians
Oke Ayodele @infoDmedia: Your government days in office are numbered.
Cornelius Osaje @CorneliusOsaje: Now, it is the nation that comes first, sad how you people talk with no remorse.
Kaforhenry @kaforhenri: Tell all your bosses at the top that we aren’t voting APC. We enjoyed Twitter while the ban was on.
Olaoye @OlaoyeOA: You people lifted the suspension because of election campaign
Djradica @Djradica: In the first place, you don’t have a justification to ban Twitter. Shame on those who were behind the ban.
Back story
The ban on Twitter was announced after the platform deleted tweets made by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari warning the Igbo people, of a potential repeat of the 1967 Biafran Civil War due to the agitations in Southeastern Nigeria.
However, The Nigerian government claimed that the deletion of the president’s tweets factored into their decision, but it was ultimately based on “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.”
The government also cited the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
