The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on Nigerians to defend the country’s sovereignty by supporting the federal government’s Twitter suspension, saying it is in national interest.
The National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Sen. John Akpanudoedehe, in a statement issue Saturday, said the ban on Twitter was a challenge to the Nigerian youths to develop another app.
“APC urges Nigerians talented in the development of social media/software applications to seize the opportunity of the suspension of Twitter operations in the country to develop homegrown applications that can rival existing social media platforms and meet the need of Nigerians.
“Russia has VKontakte (VK), China has Weibo, among several homegrown social media platforms. The APC believes that the country has the potentials and talents that can develop alternative and competitive applications to existing platforms in the world. Twitter’s suspension will undoubtedly serve as a positive trigger to unleash the creative potentials of Nigerians in the global digital space,” the party said.
It noted that this was a challenge to the vibrant youths with such talents, adding that they would get support in the exercise from relevant federal government agencies as well as the numerous Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training and research establishments in the country.
It recalled that it had earlier released a statement asking Twitter and other operators of social media pages to use their platforms to check divisive and inciting rhetoric, particularly in Nigeria.
The ruling party said it had earlier tasked social media service providers on their important responsibility to curb fake news, disinformation, hate speech, among others.
It added that evidently, Twitter failed to do this and even allowed its platform to be used by arsonists, insurrectionists and separatists in the country.
Popular Nigerian singer, Olubankole Wellington, better known as Banky W has urged Nigerians to shun voting any politician older than 65 into power during the 2023 general elections since the retirement age in Nigeria is 65.
Banky W made the call while reacting to the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria by the Federal Government, which he describes as “clueless”
The 40-year-old singer cum politician in a series of tweets via his Twitter account said the government cannot stop kidnapping and other vices plaguing the country but can come out to ban Twitter.
He tweet, “Nigerian Government banned Twitter, and announced the ban ON Twitter. You can’t make this up. Clueless.
“They can’t stop kidnapping, armed robbery and terrorism, the country is as unsafe as ever and yet they can seize passports and block bank accounts of peaceful protesters.
“They ban cryptocurrency. They ban Twitter. Completely out of touch with the plight of young people.
“The retirement age in Nigeria is 65. Regardless of the party if you’ll be over 65 at the time of elections, we won’t vote for you. It’ll at least eliminate an entire group that has had enough opportunities to fix this mess.
“Can we consider doing #NowToOldToRule? If you’re over 65, you’ve had your chance to help fix this mess. Isn’t it time for that entire generation to rest? The Nigerian Government should not be a retirement home. It’s worth a thought. It’s worth a shot.”
Tragedy struck in Ado Ekiti on Friday evening as soldiers numbering three allegedly killed an operative of the Department of State Services(DSS) inside a hotel.
The incident occurred at about 7.30pm at a hotel located along NTA road in Ado Ekiti where one of the soldiers was alleged to have stabbed the DSS operative.
The dead victim was said to have been stabbed on the neck and bled profusely, leading to his death.
It was gathered that the incident happened as a result of a hot argument between the soldiers and the DSS staff, after they arrested a man suspected to be an ICT fraudster inside the hostel.
The source said: “As the soldiers who were inside the hotel had stopped the young man they suspected to be a ‘yahoo boy’ and interrogating him, the young man saw the DSS operative on a bike and beckoned to him for rescue.
“When the DSS got to the soldiers, hot argument ensued between them and one of the soldiers became so angry that he drew out a knife and stabbed DSS operative in the neck.
“The DSS man fell immediately and started bleeding. The people inside the hotel drinking had to run for dear lives, in fact, they hurriedly fled the scene to prevent being arrested”, he explained.
Few minutes after the incident occurred, about six gun wielding DSS operatives were said to have stormed the hotel and arrested the soldiers.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Command, ASP Sunday Abutu, confirmed the incident.
Abutu revealed that the victim was killed during an argument with some soldiers and that the police are investigating the matter.
“We heard that the DSS operative was killed during a hot argument with some soldiers yesterday evening.
“The deceased’s corpse had been deposited in the morgue. The perpetrators of the murder had been arrested.
“Let me also add that our detectives have started investigation and we will get to the root of the matter”, Abutu said.
Eighty-eight people were massacred by bandits in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi state on Thursday, the police said.
Initially 66 were reported dead.
The Kebbi Police Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Nafi’u Abubakar who confirmed the figure, said all the victims were killed in eight different communities in the local government area.
According to him, the command has so far recovered the 88 bodies and dispatched a detachment of operatives to maintain law and order in the affected communities.
“The killing took place in Koro, Kimpi, Gaya, Dimi, Zutu, Rafin Gora and Iguenge villages, all in Danko/Wasagu LGA of Kebbi State.
“Initially, the bodies recovered were 66 but as I am talking to you now, about 88 bodies have been recovered,” Abubakar said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that in April, bandits killed nine police officers, in the area, including the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) as they were responding to a distressed call.
Three dismissed soldiers who aided the training of over 4000 members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) have narrated how the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, lured them to join the group, but failed to fulfill his promises.
Three dismissed soldiers who aided the training of over 4000 members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) have narrated how the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, lured them to join the group, but failed to fulfill his promises.
According to the trio who were recently arrested by operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team (IRT), they were promised heavy monthly pay, an all-expense paid trip abroad for further military training, and the post of generals when the Biafra state is actualised.
The suspects, Linus Owalo, Godswill Steven and Chinasa Orji, were arrested after operatives acted on intelligence from some members of the ESN, who were arrested during a raid of the group’s hideouts in Imo, Anambra, Delta and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The Daily Times on Saturday gathered that the suspects trained 4000 men at an IPOB camp in Abia State, while another 400 were trained at a camp in Asaba.
Recall that the ESN, known as the armed wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been accused of attacking and killing security operatives, as well as burning of police stations across the South East and South South regions of the country.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Owalo enlisted into the Nigeria Army in the year 2013 and was attached to 102 Guard Brigade Battalion, but was dismissed in 2019, while Orji and Steven, enlisted into the Nigeria Army in 2015 and 2017, respectively and were trained at the 133 Special Force Battalion, but dismissed in 2020.
The suspects had after their dismissal, joined the IPOB militia and gave them trainings on combat operations, ambush and use of fire arms.
Speaking on his role in the group, 32-year-old Owalo said that he and the other suspects pulled out of the group on realising that the IPOB leader could not fulfil his promises.
The father of two and a native of Layal Local Government Area of Cross Rivers State, said: “I was enlisted into the Nigeria Army, in 2013. I was posted to the Guards Brigade Headquarters, FCT Abuja, but in the year 2019, I was absent on duty and the army authorities arrested me.
I was charged and subsequently dismissed from the service. Since then I have been seeking for reinstatement and life have not been easy for my family.
“There was this man I approached for a job and he linked me to one Mr. Williams, who he said could help me get a job. Mr. Williams told me about Biafra and their dream to achieve a sovereign state.
He invited me to their meeting and when I attended I was welcomed warmly and I was given a half bag of garri, five tubers of yam and they also a paid a visit to my wife and children.
I then told them that I was making plans to get my reinstatement into the Nigeria Army and they told me that I should forget about it that their Supreme leader, Nnamdi Kanu, will make life better for me, if I train the IPOB militia known as ESN.
“They also told me that I will be taken abroad after I have trained the militia for me to gain more military training and when Biafra is actualized that I will become a general in the Biafra Army.
I took an oath, swearing my allegiance to Nnamdi Kanu and I also vowed that I will die if betray the Biafra struggle and I was given the sum of N100,000.
I was then moved to a forest in Abia State, where over 4000 men who wanted to be trained were camped.
This was in October 2020 and I also met some other dismissed soldiers of the Nigeria Army who were there to train the men.
“We commenced training the moment I arrived and we started with push-ups, moral training, then we moved to fire movement known as field craft.
There was no board and pen in the forest for us to write on but we trained them the way we could.
The people managing the camp refused to trust us and they don’t involve us in their meetings.
Three months into the training, they sent us to a camp in Delta State, we met a man known as Be-In-Spirit and he took us to the camp.
“They told us that when we get to Delta that they will take care of us very well and when we got there we discovered that camp had been shut down.
I couldn’t talk to Nnamdi Kanu. I was just talking to his boys. I was used and brainwashed by IPOB.
Since I have been arrested, I would make sure that IPOB must be swept out,” he lamented.
While also making confessional statement, Steven, aged 33, a native of Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, said: “ I joined the Nigeria Army in June 2017, and I was attached to the Special Force and I got my four months training in Katogora.
I also went to Kaba Kogi State for another three months training, before I was sent to Takum Traba State for three more months training.
At the completion of my training, I was sent to 133 Battalion, where I sustained injury.
“I was posted to Maiduguri in 2018 and I fought at Garuda in Maiduguri.
I survived the battle even with my injuries and I wanted to treat myself but the army authorities refused to allow me go for treatment.
When the pain became too much, I left to treat myself and when I returned, I was arrested and locked up in a cell where I meet Chinasa Orji.
We became friends and while in the cell he told me that one of his friends called him from Senegal and informed him that Nnamdi Kanu was recruiting trained soldiers to train IPOB militia.
“He said Nnamdi Kanu was ready to pay them twice the money they are earning as soldiers. He also told me that Nnamdi Kanu would also take the soldiers abroad and when Biafra is achieved he will make them generals in the Biafra.
I accepted the offer and they paid us N100,000 each which was twice the salary I was receiving from the Nigeria Army. We then traveled to Abia State where we took oaths to be loyal to Nnamdi Kanu.
“We were also taken into the camp where we gave volunteered militias trainings on combat and special forces maneuvering.
After spending one month in their Abia State Camp, we were transferred to another Camp, where I spent three weeks training the militia I met there. I left the camp when it became clear that the promise they made to take us abroad for training wasn’t realistic.
President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday, June 10, in Lagos perform the official launch of the assets under the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, also known as the Deep Blue Project.
Preparatory to the launch, the Maritime Security Unit (MSU) of the Deep Blue Project, comprising personnel from the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force, Nigeria Police, and Department of State Services, are conducting simulation exercises for the event on the land, air, and sea assets of the Project to confirm their readiness for full deployment.
“While this exercise is on-going, members of the public, especially those living in coastal communities, are advised to remain calm, as this exercise is only meant to test the readiness of the assets,” said a statement from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
According to Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, “With the deployment of the assets of the Deep Blue Project, we are entering another level of national security designed for total spectrum maritime security and better domain awareness using some of the latest technology.
“This effort to secure our waters would give Nigerians more leverage to harness the enormous resources of our maritime environment and aid the drive towards economic diversification.”
The Project, which was initiated by the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Federal Ministry of Defence, is being implemented by NIMASA.
The main objective of the Deep Blue Project is to secure Nigerian waters up to the Gulf of Guinea. The Project has three categories of platforms to tackle maritime security on land, sea, and air.
The land assets include the Command, Control, Communication, Computer, and Intelligence Centre (C4i) for intelligence gathering and data collection; 16 armoured vehicles for coastal patrol; and 600 specially trained troops for interdiction, known as Maritime Security Unit.
The sea assets include two Special Mission Vessels and 17 Fast Interceptor Boats. The air assets comprise two Special Mission Aircraft for surveillance of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ); three Special Mission Helicopters for search and rescue operations; and four Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
The Deep Blue Project is the first integrated maritime security strategy in West and Central Africa with the aim of tackling the incidences of piracy, sea robbery, and other crimes at sea.
While prosecution of suspected criminals used to be a challenge, the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offenses (SPOMO) Act passed by the 9th National Assembly would now provide a legal backing for prosecution and punishment of offenders.
Former presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba, has described Twitter as the online machine for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Garba made the remark while commending the Nigerian Government for suspending the activities of Twitter in Nigeria.
Garba while featuring on Channels Television’s Programme, Politics Today on Friday, said Twitter was in support of IPOB’s activities.
He stressed that Twitter supports IPOB more than it does the Nigerian government.
“Twitter is behind them. I think Twitter is like a kind of IPOB online machine because what they do more is supporting IPOB much more than the government. Everyone knows that IPOB is anti-Nigeria, their target is to destroy Nigeria,” he said.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture had announced the ban on Twitter activities in Nigeria.
Mohammed during a press briefing had explained that the microblogging site was suspended because Nigerians were using the platform for activities that were against the nation’s unity.
The Federal Government has followed through with its decision to ban the operations of microblogging site, Twitter in Nigeria after citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining the nation’s corporate existence as its reason for the action.
A directive was, Friday night, given to telecommunication companies in the country to deactivate twitter by 12 midnight- an instruction that has now been carried out.
Checks by this reporter between the hours of 3a.m and 4a.m revealed that tweets were not loading across all devices.
An attempt to refresh tweets returned the message “Tweets aren’t loading right now. Try again” on mobile, while on desktop, it was “This site can’t be reached”
Sweden on Friday reacted to the indefinite suspension slammed on Twitter by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The European country in a tweet on its official handle, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to respect ‘freedom of expression.’
It noted that Nigerians have a constitutional right to exercise their freedom of expression and a right to access of information.
‘This won’t be my last tweet’ – Atiku reacts to suspension of Twitter by FG
The tweet reads, ”Nigerians have a constitutional right to exercise their freedom of expression and a right to access of information.
”This must be respected. Safeguarding free, independent media and civic spaces for democratic voices is an important part of Sweden’s #DriveForDemocracy #TwitterBan
Just a few days after Twitter deleted a threat tweet against South East by President Buhari, the FG placed a ban on the platform.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed explained that Nigerians were using Twitter to perpetuate activities inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria.
For the federal government, It seems that ‘criticism’ means ‘enmity’ and that could be the major reason why it announced the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria on Friday.
The government in a statement by Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed said Twitter is being used for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence. The minister further said authorities have instructed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all social media operations in Nigeria.
It is no gain saying that the suspension was basically to express President Muhammadu Buhari’s annoyance at the micro-blogging application over the removal of his posts referencing the country’s civil war.
In the post, Mr Buhari said he would treat those attacking government buildings “with the language they understand”.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” he wrote on Tuesday.
For an average Nigerian, Mr Buhari’s statement was seen as a veiled threat against the Igbo ethnic group who suffered casualties during the war and currently, IPOB members, who are seeking secession from the Nigerian state. After demands by Nigerians that Mr Buhari’s account be suspended, the social media platform deleted the controversial post, saying it violated one of its rules.
The federal government swiftly reacted saying “twitter may have its own rules, it’s not the universal rule. If Mr President, anywhere in the world, feels very bad and concerned about a situation, he is free to express such views. If an organisation is proscribed, it is different from any other which is not proscribed.”
“Two, any organisation that gives directives to its members to attack police stations, to kill policemen, to attack correctional centres, to kill warders, and you are now saying that Mr President does not have the right to express his dismay and anger about that?”
“I don’t see anywhere in the world where an organisation, a person will stay somewhere outside Nigeria, and will direct his members to attack the symbols of authority, the police, the military, especially when that organisation has been proscribed. By whatever name, you can’t justify giving orders to kill policemen or to kill anybody you do not agree with,” Mr Mohammed said.
Earlier today, he announced that all Twitter operations in the country have been suspended. Experts who spoke with POLITICS NIGERIA said crowdfunding will greatly be affected by the suspension.
Tunji Rahmon, a software developer said most business startups will no longer have the opportunity to use Twitter to get revenue.
A social commentator, Christian Ifeanyi told POLITICS NIGERIA that the decision will weaken the active tech community in the country.
An activist, Dunsi Olowolafe in a chat with our correspondent said “the ban on Twitter has once again confirmed that the Nigerian government will go any length to obsfucate freedom of speech.”
“The effect of this on the growing tech industries will not be minimal because developers now have to consider the chances of their startups objectives not conflicting with the personal interest of those in government.”
“As we have seen with the ban of services provided by certain fintechs, the ban on Twitter would only reinforce the long-held belief in developer’s community that Nigeria is not a good place to harness ideas and creativity, in whatsoever way.”
