Lifting Twitter Ban All About 2023 Elections -By Festus Ogun

Like I wrote on Twitter yesterday night, the lifting of Twitter ban is not one that calls for celebration. Truly, the ban should not have happened in the first place for it was unlawful, unconstitutional, malicious, petty and undemocratic.

You will recall that last year the Federal Government said it banned access to Twitter because it was not a registered entity in Nigeria, amongst other silly reasons. The excuse came despite the fact that other social media platforms, like Youtube, Instagram and Facebook, are equally unregistered.

Given that as at today the 13th day of January, 2022 Twitter remains unregistered in Nigeria, what could have motivated the Federal Government to lift the ban? For the Federal Government to claim to have banned Twitter because it was unregistered, a mere agreement to register at a future date cannot, therefore, be a logical ground for lifting the ban. It must be seen to have been done before the ban would be lifted.

Hear this: FG lifted the ban to allow APC continue with its campaign of poverty, death and hunger on Twitter given that the space controls the narrative on social media.

The lifting on Twitter ban is all about the 2023 General election. It is all about controlling – or maybe disrupting- the narrative on Twitter. It is all about selling their packaged lies to unsuspecting citizens using faceless – and sometimes shameless – social media accounts.

Should the heartless men in power today succeed in perpetuating themselves, the VPN we hurriedly deleted earlier today may likely be restored post-2023.