The lawmaker representing Daura Federal Constituency of Katsina State in the House of Representatives, Fatahu Muhammad has declared total support for the decision by the federal government to ban Twitter operations in Nigeria.
According to the legislator, social media as a whole is preventing Nigerians from focusing on the real problems and chasing illusions.
He added that if Twitter had not been suspended after it pulled down a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari, many people and organizations would have continued to insult the sovereignty of Nigeria.
Muhammad spoke on Tuesday during the investigative hearing organized by the House joint committees on Information, National Orientation, Ethics, and Values alongside the National Security, Justice and Commerce, on the suspension of Twitter.
He said: “For God sake, what is social media? Are we eating social media? Let us go back to the resources, and harvest them, and let keep this thing aside, and face the real problem in Nigeria.
“My colleagues have spoken the mind of their constituents. If I would speak the mind of my constituents, I would include the president, because out of 360 of us, I am the only one voted by the president. Look, Nigeria first, let us be honest to ourselves, let us call a spade a spade.”
He also supported the idea of regulating social media in Nigeria, saying he has been left disappointed with the activities of many youths on the social media platforms.
“We should please regulate the media.
“If the minister did not ban Twitter on the instruction of the President, the kind of insults to the sovereignty of Nigeria from the users of Twitter would be more than what we are facing.
“Let us tell ourselves the truth, Nigeria comes first. Sometimes, when I am reading tweets, I am disappointed with the youths (because) we are the future of Nigeria,” he added.
Meanwhile, the ECOWAS court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday ruled that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration should not stop anyone from using Twitter until the final suit is determined by the court.
The court barred the federal government and its agents from intimidating, sanctioning, arresting, or prosecuting anyone for using Twitter in Nigeria, pending the final determination of the suit.
It will be recalled after the operation of Twitter was suspended in Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, also threatened to arrest and prosecute Nigerians who were using Virtual Private Network to bypass the suspension of Twitter.
But the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), instituted a suit before the ECOWAS court, arguing that the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria is unlawful and an infringement of fundamental human rights.
The ECOWAS court on Tuesday, ruled in their favour.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News