Facebook, popular social media platform, said it has deleted a controversial statement posted on President Muhammadu Buhari’s official page, where he threatened to deal with those attacking Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) facilities like Nigerian soldiers dealt with the rebels during the Civil War.
The president on Tuesday said on his Twitter handle: “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
The statement was greeted with outrage, as many believed it to be a subtle threat of ‘genocide’, and it was subsequently deleted by Twitter.
Twitter said the tweet violated its terms and conditions, to which the federal government on Friday responded by suspending operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
Lai Mohammed, minister of Information and Culture, on Friday announced the suspension of Twitter, saying that the platform was being used for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
Segun Adeyemi, special assistant to the President, Office of the Minister of Information, said in a statement that the federal government had also directed the National Broadcasting Commission to immediately commence the process of licensing all social media operations in Nigeria.
On Friday, Facebook also removed the same post from its platform following reports from many Nigerian users.
“In line with our global policies, we’ve removed a post from President Buhari’s Facebook page for violating our Community Standards against inciting violence.
“We remove any content from individuals or organisations that violates our policies on Facebook,” the platform stated.
Although the post is no longer available on President Buhari’s timeline, it is still displayed on other Facebook accounts, including those of Femi Adesina, his presidential spokesman.
It is unclear if the government will also suspend the operations of Facebook deleting the same post.
