The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged Nigerians to use the opportunity of the Twitter ban by the federal government to develop local alternatives that can replace the social media platform.
This is as the ruling party declared that it believes the Twitter ban by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is the right decision.
The party in a statement by its National Secretary, Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe said the ban is a good way to curb the excesses of Twitter and deliver Nigeria from intimidation and undue influence of outsiders.
It said the activities of Twitter as an organization were becoming a national security threat to Nigeria as a country.
The statement added that local developers who take up the challenge will get the support of the government through the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy.
The statement reads: “The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged Nigerians talented in software applications development to seize the opportunity of suspending the operations of Twitter in the country to develop a homegrown application that can equal or even be superior to the suspended foreign application in meeting the need of Nigerians.
The APC believes that the country has the talents that can develop an alternative application to Twitter and liberate the country and other developing countries from the shackles and shameful arrogance that frequently manifests in the way Twitter disdainfully promotes confusion and chaos in the name of freedom of expression in many countries of the world.
We at the APC firmly believe that Twitter’s suspension will undoubtedly serve as a positive trigger to unleash the creative potentials of Nigerians in the global digital space.
This is a challenge to the vibrant youths with such talents. They will get support in the exercise from the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy and its agencies as well as the numerous information and Communication Technology (ICT) training and research establishments in the country.
The recent announcement by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy that Nigeria will soon start the production of smartphones and Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards for the African market is an evidence that the country has what it takes to make a deep and strong foray into the global ICT industry.
The leadership of the APC hereby puts it on the record that the party and millions of its members, supporters aind sympathises at home and in the diaspora totally support the suspension slammed on Twitter for its continuous support for those who openly call for arson and the killing of security personnel in Nigeria.
Akpanudoedehe added that the Twitter suspension by the federal government will send a message to the social media giant not to meddle with the affairs of the country.
He agreed that Twitter was arrogantly having negative impacts on Nigeria particularly in the area of fake news and the government had to act fast before things got worse.
“The suspension serves Twitter right and warns other social media tools to toe the line of decency and show respect for their host countries.”
“The Federal Government of Nigeria was right in suspending the operations of Twitter in the country for its role in promoting disaffection, derogating the country and its institutions as well allowing divisive elements bent on harming the country to use it as a channel to propagate and legitimize such destructive tendencies.”
“It could be recalled that because of the unacceptable manner in which several social media and social network platforms were abuse, the APC in April 2021 in a statement implored Twitter and other social media outlets to curb the dissemination of divisive items, fake news, and inciting rhetorics in the country, but in their characteristics arrogance, they ignored the advisory.”
“They continued to operate in a trajectory that is in direct threat to our national security. They serially encouraged separatists, arsonists and glorified terrorists by offering them the platfonrms to spread their terror messages, a situation no responsible government will tolerate.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, on Saturday, directed immediate prosecution of offenders of the federal government ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria.
Recall that the minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Friday announced the suspension of Twitter operations in the country.
The microblogging platform was suspended after deleting the tweet of President Muhammadu Buhari on civil war.
To circumvent the ban, many Nigerians had opted for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
Malami on Saturday directed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF) at the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, to commence in earnest the process of prosecuting violators of the de-activation of operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
This is contained in a statement by his media aide, Dr Umar Gwandu.
The article was originally published on Nigeria News