Tony Abolo, an ace broadcaster on Monday berated the Federal Government for directing all television and radio stations in Nigeria to suspend the use of Twitter, a microblogging platform.
Abolo, who spoke to BusinessDay in Benin City, said the action by the Federal Government through the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) “is Decree number 4 of 1984 being modernised in 2021 to clamp down on media houses and suppress freedom of expression.”
He further said that the plan was to prevent Nigerians from free access to information, holding the government accountable and controlling the recent constructive criticism of the present administration.
Abolo, while noting that the temporary ban on Twitter was unconstitutional, said the action of those in authority would further scare investors, thus creating more rooms for insecurity, instability and unemployment.
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According to him, after the country had used the media to remove colonialism, remove military, they now want to snuff out the candles.
He said: “Nigerians are used to freedom and you can’t repress us because it is our nature to look for ways to survive. If they think they don’t want us to discuss in the open, people will begin to discuss in their closet.
“When you say no more phone-in programs or disseminating information through Twitter handles, I think they are going a bit too far”.
On if the action was linked to the proposed June 12 protest, he said Nigerians cannot be coerced, adding that “Buhari ought to know that we have gone too far for us to be inhibited.
The NBC had, in a statement dated June 6, 2021, advised broadcasting stations to uninstall their Twitter handles and desist from using the platform as a source of information gathering for news and programmes. The commission noted that it was consequent on the suspension of Twitter operations in the country.
