The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has slammed all foreign countries who condemned the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) for the ban placed on Twitter.
Speaking in an interview on NTA’s ‘Good Morning Nigeria’ programme on Friday, Mohammed said that the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and others only condemned the Nigerian government’s action for their economic interests.
The minister described the foreign countries as hypocrites, urging Nigerians to differentiate between those condemning the ban to protect their commercial interest and those with a genuine love for Nigerians.
Mohammed said, “The EU has recommended the same thing and Britain only on Wednesday spoke about a law that would regulate the social media. This is why I say they are being hypocritical. Like I said, I don’t like commenting on issues that have to do with relations with Nigeria and other countries but clearly speaking, they are being less than honest.”
He added, “We have seen so many foreign missions come up to condemn the action of Nigeria. Nigerians, please, make a distinction between countries that are trying to protect their economic and commercial interests from those countries that genuinely love you and talking about freedom of speech and don’t forget for one minute that it is because there is a country called Nigeria that there is freedom of speech.”
According to The PUNCH, Mohammed claimed that Twitter has failed to respond to communications from the Federal Government, urging it to bring down divisive comments like those of separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who was fond of calling Nigeria a zoo.
Speaking further, Mohammed said that the Nigerian Government is not losing money to the Twitter suspension because it does not generate any money in tax from the social media platform.
