
Twitter Ban: PDP Cautions APC, FG Against Harassing Foreign Envoys
Considers Court Action, Civil Protests
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cautions the All Progressives
Congress (APC)-led Federal Government against harassing foreign envoys
and other members of the international community for speaking out
against the infringement on the rights of Nigerians by the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The PDP’s position is predicated on the summoning of the envoys of the
United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada among
others by the Federal Government, for standing on the side of Nigerians
in criticizing the unwarranted suspension of Twitter in our country.
The PDP is alarmed by the development which smacks of intolerance
towards the international community as obtained in Idi Amin’s
dictatorial Uganda of 1971 to 1979.
Our party notes that there is no law or statute that prohibits foreign
envoys from speaking out against clear violation of internationally
enshrined freedom of expression and right to social interactions as
provided by Twitter and other social media platforms.
In fact, the defence of such rights is a fundamental duty which envoys
owe their host nations and the international community.
The PDP therefore cautions that any harassment or assault on foreign
envoys place them at great risk as well as pitch our nation against
other members of the international community.
It is instructive for the APC and the Buhari administration to note that
given the current downturn of our national life under their misrule,
Nigeria cannot afford being declared a pariah nation.
The PDP is worried that the APC administration has been overheating our
polity leading to escalation of insecurity, killings, bloodletting and
violence in the country.
Nigerians would recall that ahead of the 2019 general elections, one of
the leaders of the APC, the Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir
el-Rufai, had threatened that some of the foreign election monitors
would be returned to their countries in body bags.
Our party therefore demands that the Federal Government should listen to
the voice of reason, end its misrule and desist from infringing on the
rights of Nigerians as being witnessed in the illegal and vexatious ban
on Twitter.
Already, the PDP is perfecting processes for a legal action against the
APC-led Federal Government’s suspension of Twitter and the directive to
broadcasting stations to pull out of Twitter.
In the same vein, our party is considering a directive to all our wards,
local governments and state structure to commence peaceful civil
protests against suspension of Twitter, the spate of insecurity and the
failures of the Buhari administration.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary