Thread by @SavvyRinu

General Buhari: Your Time Is Up!

For far too long, we have allowed the Buhari administration dismiss & downplay the impact & reach of social media on our culture, governance & economy.

We let them lie blatantly about how we were simply wasting our time, called us miscreants, tried to delegitimize our collective power to advocate for ourselves on a global platform. We persevered, we mobilized, we crowdfunded, we advocated.

But once our online power began to spill offline, into the streets of Akwuzu, Ikeja, Lekki, Barnawa and Wuse, the government acknowledged us in the only way they seem to value; reactionary violence.

How can we begin to explain or even make sense of this decision to ban a major source for real time news, activism, jobs and accountability?

How can a platform that helps provide a source of livelihood be banned because the government woke up and wished it into existence?

Twitter, for over 10 years has served as the primary medium for lightning fast dissemination of information, so powerful in its ability to reach global audiences that even the government was forced to adopt it to prop up its usually ineffective communication strategies.

It has become a major information platform helping the government, private sectors, businesses to engage in real-time with citizens.

I can’t recall numbers of lives saved because of the quick responses from people via twitter, how many kidnap, rape, police harassment and

extortion, armed robbery cases, mental health responses and breaking news we are able to get daily, because of the real-time nature of twitter.

Only last month, ordinary citizens rallied together to expose a rapist & murderer who had operated with impunity for years,

protected as evidence suggests, by the very law enforcement agencies that were supposed to prevent people like that from operating freely.

We mourned the victim, Inibong, as a nation and demanded for change as one voice.

Yesterday, 4th of June, 2021, the current administration showed us how much they are defined by cowardice by suspending Twitter indefinitely.

General Buhari of 1984’s decree 4 is back.
The ruse is done and the tyrant is back, but 2021 is not 1984.

Millions of Nigerians use Twitter as a democratized alternative to an incompetent government that refuses to prioritize the welfare of its citizens.

Graduates have become micro influencers, bloggers, content creators, and built MSMEs, all of which will be affected by this ban.

Through this move, the government has ensured that new businesses don’t come into the country.

It’s time everyone wake up to see that this government has no plan for the people of Nigeria other than to return the country to ground zero.

Each time young Nigerians bring up a plan/idea to survive, this govt deliberately ensures we die of hunger & frustration.

Mr President promised Nigerians in 2015, secure environments, better economic opportunities, a more accountable government, & a country we can be proud of.

Has Mr President been able to give us all of the above?

Social media gives people an opportunity to participate in government.

However, this administration considers itself a supreme ruler rather than a steward of the electorate, and by banning Twitter, they have made it clear that Nigeria does not have a democratic government.

This is as good as a military regime.
This government has come to steal, destroy and encourage killings.

In the last six years, we have not experienced what it is like to be a Nigerian. The progress we hoped for to make Nigeria a place of pride has not materialized.

Citizens are treated as enemies of the nation or terrorists when they complain or express their anger.

For a government that has spent more than 2,000 days in office to still blame the opposition party for its failings shows that they have nothing to offer.

Nobody should fall for their tricks any longer.
Remember all this as we draw closer to the polls (if there will be polls). There is no sector that this government can be scored 30%. Instead of this government to cover their face in shame, they are flexing muscles.

We made jokes about Twitter in Ghana, but we can see it’s not our tweets that keeps investors away, it’s clamping down on private businesses that keeps them away!

This govt is ready to unfairly target any business that sides with the people & upholds their inalienable rights.

What is left of our quality of life as citizens? What is left of our dignity & respect as people of the world?

Has our President even asked us like he did 6 years ago if he can keep us safe when we travel to any part of the country? Are our lives better than it was 6 years ago?

This is the time to rise with everything in us.

This move is a indicator of many worse decisions to come.

This is about our future.
This is about us as a nation!
This anger over losing jobs, our voices & a lot more must enable us to act!

Let’s get back on Twitter & give this #TwitterBan the kick it deserves.

Let’s get ready to hit the streets strategically!

Let the world know we are under a siege of tyranny, & as a result, Buhari’s time is up and he needs to go!!