The Peoples Democratic Party has described the suspension of Twitter by the Federal Government as unwarranted and barbaric.

This is just as it called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari to desist from victimising Nigerians by immediately and unconditionally rescind its decision to suspend the social media app.

The opposition party described the government’s action as a slide towards a fascist regime.

In a statement released on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP asserted that the suspension was a vexatious, condemnable and barbaric move to muzzle Nigerians, particularly the youths, ostensibly to prevent them from holding the Buhari administration accountable.

Ologbondiyan insisted that rather than being a platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence, as claimed by the minister, the citizens have been using the social media platform, largely, for activities that promote unity as well as social, economic and commercial interaction in the country.

He noted that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in his statement failed to cite an example of where Nigerians used Twitter as a platform to promote acts that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence as he claimed.

“Of course, the failure to give any such instance confirms that the Federal Government is only out to victimise Nigerians.

“The Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration are only afraid of Nigerians on Twitter because of their machinations for which they dread the Nigerian youths.

“Moreover, freedom of speech is firmly guaranteed in our constitution and the Buhari administration should be ready to face Nigerians over its misrule.

“In the case of any infringement, our nation has adequate extant laws to deal with such and not this move to gag the people.”