June 09, (THEWILL)- Former US President Donald Trump has hailed the banning of Twitter by the Nigerian government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Trump said in a statement: “Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President. More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech —all voices should be heard.
“In the meantime, competitors will emerge and take hold. Who are they to dictate good and evil if they themselves are evil? Perhaps I should have done it while I was President. But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was. 2024?” he added.
The ex-President also encouraged other countries to follow in Nigeria’s footsteps and ban Twitter and Facebook.
Trump’s support for the Twitter ban is coming days after Nigeria suspended Twitter indefinitely last Friday.
THEWILL reports that the microblogging platform had deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet for violating its abusive behaviour policy amidst several calls by Nigerians to take it down. His tweet threatened punishment on agitators in the South-Eastern part of the country.
While the government declared that the nationwide ban on Twitter was only a temporary measure to curb misinformation and fake news, new directives suggest otherwise.
The government ordered broadcasting media to delete their Twitter accounts and stop using the platform as a news source on Monday, which further confirms a ploy to stifle free speech and enforce censorship.
Repressive governments around the world already ban social media platforms like Twitter, including Iran, North Korea, and China.
Trump was permanently banned from Twitter after the deadly Capitol insurrection in early January, which he egged on both on and off Twitter, saying at one point: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
President Trump was also indefinitely suspended from Facebook after the Capitol attack. Last Friday, the social media giant said his suspension would last for at least another two years.
Trump recently started a blog as a means of communicating directly with his supporters in light of the social media bans, but it struggled to generate engagement and he shut it down less than a month after it was launched.
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