The Federal Government has accused governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party of calling for the reversal of the ban on Twitter because it has deprived them the opportunity to spread fake news and hate.
Mallam Garba Shehu who is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity said this in reaction to a communique by the PDP governors which was released after their meeting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
The governors had in the communique said that the ban on Twitter will worsen the country’s unemployment crisis. They also called on the president to review the ban on Twitter in Nigeria “in the national interest”.
According to Shehu, “… the PDP grieve over the Federal Government’s action over Twitter – for it represents the curtailment of their ability to use the platform to spread fake news and invented stories to the detriment of community and good-neighbourliness between the peoples of Nigeria.
“The PDP Governors propose no solutions to any of our nation’s challenges in the face of COVID and global economic downturn: instead, they grasp for more money and mourn their lack of access to social media to spread falsehoods and hate.
“Their statement is evidence, if any were needed, as to why the President and the APC ended the PDP’s one-party rule in 2015, were re-elected by an increased margin in 2019, and why their winning trend is set to continue far into the future.”
The federal government suspended Twitter on June 4, for ‘threatening Nigeria’s peaceful coexistence.’
