Twitter removed on Wednesday a post by President Muhammadu Buhari threatening punishment for regional secessionists blamed for attacks on government buildings.
The social media firm said Buhari’s tweet, referring to the 1967-70 civil war in the southeast that killed about 1 million people, violated its “abusive behaviour” policy leading to a 12-hour suspension of his account.
Buhari, who served in the army against the secessionists and was Nigeria’s military ruler in the 1980s, tweeted on Tuesday that many people misbehaving today were too young to remember the deaths and destruction from the civil war.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” he warned in the tweet that was taken down.
Some social media users criticised the president’s tweet, accusing him of targeting Igbo people.
Following several complaints, Twitter eventually bowed to pressure, deleting the tweet.
A comment by Twitter stated, “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules.”
Nigeria has seen a spate of arson attacks on electoral offices and police stations in recent weeks, especially in the southeast. Officers have also been killed.
The federal government has blamed a banned separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and what police call its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network.
The IPOB has repeatedly denied involvement.
Meanwhile, the minister of information and culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed dismissed Twitter’s action saying Buhari had every right to express dismay at violence by a banned organisation.
“Twitter may have its own rules, it’s not the universal rule,” he told reporters.
“If Mr. President anywhere in the world feels very bad and concerned about a situation, he is free to express such views,” he said.
The minister added: “Now, we should stop comparing apples with oranges. 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?
“We are the ones guilty of double standards? 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.”
With Reuters report
