Nigerians have continued to tweet in defiance to the Muhammadu Buhari-led government’s order to arrest and prosecute anyone who still uses Twitter in Nigeria.
The Federal Government on Friday banned Twitter, blocking citizen’s access to the micro-blogging platform, after Twitter deleted a controversial tweet of President Buhari referencing the civil war.
On Saturday, Attorney General and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, ordered the arrest and prosecution of any Nigerian seen using Twitter. But the threat has not deterred Nigerians from tweeting and engaging on the micro-blogging site.
General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, took to Twitter shortly after Malami ordered the arrest and prosecution of whoever uses Twitter in Nigeria.
No retreat. No Surrender”, Adeboye tweeted, sharing a video of his message.
No Retreat No Surrender #WeMove #ForJesus — Pastor Adeboye (@PastorEAAdeboye) June 5, 2021
Like Mr Adeboye, the senior pastor of Omega Fire Ministry, Apostle Johnson Suleman, took to his Twitter page to question how it is possible to arrest people for using Twitter without monitoring them on the same platform.
“You want to arrest anyone still using Twitter?.
How did you access them if you are not secretly doing same? A deaf and dumb puts on ear-piece.!!” — Apst Johnson Suleman (@APOSTLESULEMAN) June 5, 2021.
Demola Olarenwaju said the order would only give security agencies to harrass and extort young Nigerians.
”Malami’s order of prosecution for tweeting is a declaration of war on young people by pushing them into the trap of security agencies of state who now have one more illegal reason to extort, detain, harass or even kill anyone for the alleged ‘crime’ of using Twitter.” — Demola Olarewaju (@DemolaRewaju) June 5, 2021.
Deji Adeyanju, an activist, questioned the legality of Mr Malami’s order.
”Dear Nigerians,
Don’t allow them to bully you. The goal is to bully you with their illiteracy. Nobody can arrest you for using Twitter. I hereby, volunteer myself for Malami’s experiment. Which police station should I report to for using Twitter?’‘ — Comrade Deji Adeyanju (@adeyanjudeji) June 5, 2021.
Segun Awosanya, another activist said;
”Malami and his fellow travelers are arrogating powers that they don’t have unto themselves because of the dearth of leadership and gap in responsibility of the state. As far as they are concerned they wield the powers of all arms of Govt combined at the expense of us all.” — SEGA L’éveilleu (@segalink) June 5, 2021.
