Put aside your ego, reverse #TwitterBan, PDP governors tell Buhari

State governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have given reasons President Muhammadu Buhari should consider lifting the suspension on Twitter.

The Nigerian government recently suspended Twitter after the microblogging site deleted Mr Buhari’s tweet which it said violated its rules.

Since then Nigerians have been denied access to Twitter, except those who are using VPN and other means to bypass the Nigerian government’s restriction.

The PDP governors in a communique issued after their meeting on Monday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, said the reasons given for the government action was “personalised”.

“The mere ego of Mr President is not enough for such a drastic action that deprives millions of Nigerians from such an affordable means of expression and communication,” the governors said.

The governors said the ban would hurt Nigerian youth who do not have adequate access to employment and have been relying on Twitter to earn legitimate income.

“This will further worsen Nigeria’s 33% unemployment rate which is the highest in the world, improve Nigeria’s ranking as the country with second highest poverty rate in the entire world, all of which happened under APC’s unfortunate stewardship,” the governors said.

The PDP governors appealed to Mr Buhari to review the ban in the “national interest”.

The governors, who expressed fear that Mr Buhari’s administration may be sliding into dictatorship, said “social media regulation can only be done within the existing laws on the subject and should not be used as an attempt to punish or gag Nigerians from enjoying constitutionally guaranteed rights”.

The Uyo meeting was attended by Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who is the chairman of the forum, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, who is the vice chairman, and Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State who hosted the meeting.

Douye Diri, Bayelsa; Samuel Ortom, Benue; Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta; Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu; Nyesom Wike, Rivers; and Oluseyi Makinde of Oyo State also attended the meeting.

Others were Ahmadu Fintiri, Adamawa; Godwin Obaseki, Edo; Bala Mohammed, Bauchi; Darius Ishaku, Taraba, and Mahdi Mohammed, the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State.