The Senior Pastor, Trinity House, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo has said that the Muhammadu Buhari administration overreacted by indefinitely suspending Twitter’s operation in Nigeria.
In June, the Federal Government through Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter’s operations and ordered mobile networks to block access to the site.
The government cited the reason for its action as “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”
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However, Ighodalo said that Twitter is a vehicle people use to convey their concerns, noting that such concerns ought to be addressed by the government instead of wielding the big stick against the medium.
The cleric stated this in an interview published by Sunday Sun.
“I think the government overreacted by banning Twitter. There is an adage that says ‘do not throw away the baby with the bath water’.
“The problem is not Twitter, but the way people are feeling concerning government. So, it was an overreaction on the part of the government.
“Twitter is just a vehicle by which people communicate messages knowing that we need the technology age.
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“Whatever the government does to support the investment and promotion of technology for the young ones is what they should try and do because technology makes a lot of money and the new way.
“I would like to encourage the government to look not just for technology, but for economic development in Nigeria,” Ighodalo.
On clamour for restructuring in some sections of the country, Ighodalo said, “When people are calling for restructuring, it does not mean that they want to govern themselves and be in a different state and all that. No. They want the enabling economic environment and the laws that would protect the indices of Nigeria.”
On last year’s #EndSARS protests, Ighodalo said that the government made a mistake of assuming that the protests were against the Buhari administration.
He said that the protests were rather a call on the incumbent administration to effect change.
“During that protest, I went to address the youths and was accused as an anti-government personality.
“#EndSARS was not a complaint against President Buhari, it was a call for Buhari to do something.
“It could be likened to a situation where a son informed his father several times that the employed cook is starving him and, therefore, decided to react saying Daddy talk to the cook, I will not leave until you address the starving issue.”
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