Thread by @segalink

I’ve been meaning to address the issue with @adamugarba’s Crowwe App and several insinuations over the latest development with #TwitterBanInNigeria. I did my usual digging & was going to engage him at @akintollgate’s clubhouse session yesterday but he never returned as promised.

Adamu Garba may be known to most as a politician who ran for President in 2019 and later stepped down to support the #NextLevelAgenda of Mr President, but outside that he is also a young entrepreneur in the Tech industry with his firm (IPI Solutions).

Adamu like most political supporters of the Change agenda in his category benefitted from the admin even before 2019. If the @officialEFCC contract award notification to IPI Solutions on the 17th of April 2017 (EFCC/PROC/131/V.I) is anything you go by, the dots can be connected.

The main Question on every lips though is:

“Did the Govt really finance his Crowwe as being insinuated?”—

The simple answer is Capital NO.

The knee jerk decision to shutdown Twitter wasn’t a brainchild of deep thoughts and consultation. Some people simply played god.

I said once that loyalists within the corridor of power often assume their wield the power of the President and most times they get away with this.

We give too much credit to these people & important dialogues get swept away on the riptide of mediocrity.

Adamu like any other entrepreneur will support his benefactors no matter how ludicrous the idea in question is but might differ in areas that may not benefit his bottom line. He tried to position himself strategically for the outcome of the Twitter ban thus creating an impression

…an impression that may suggest that Govt is supporting him & have created an opportunity by banning Twitter. This is not the situation. A few of us have an alternative indecency’s App like Twitter too in beta stage. We, however, won’t rush things to exploit the situation.

The long and short of the story is that Adamu got a juicy Govt Contract in 2017 from EFCC for the Upgrade of Microsoft Product Licenses at the total sum of USD523, 377.26 equivalent to N159,630, 661 at @cenbank rate of N305 to $1 inclusive of 5% VAT. This approval however…

…didn’t materialize immediately into release of funds, which may explain the payment in 2019 for the said head item as CBN Bank Document can corroborate as correctly revealed by @GazetteNGR but this wasn’t for Funding a rival App as reported but for an EFCC Contract.

There is no contractor benefitting from any admin that will not support & defend such source of income especially at a time when businesses are collapsing for others. Since the business of every business is to remain in business, the likes of Adamu can sell their souls.

I personally agree with the submission of the likes of Prof @opebanwo et al that Socialmedia platforms operating in Nigeria’s space should not be ceded entirely to the control of foreigners. We can build ours competitively for local content even in compliance with local rules.

One thing regardless is that platforms are what they are. They are neither good nor bad as the use to which they are put along side the pathology of the addiction/abuse will solely depend on users almost beyond the control of the owners of the platform.

This is an ongoing conversation & Govt’s paranoia and obsession for total control is not encouraging fir anyone to invest so much in the country only to get clamped down by state forces/policies. Another issue is trust. Who will trust a platform that can be bullied by Govt?

This remains an ongoing conversation. Adamu Garba may have tried to exploit the situation to extend his reach & earnings but it failed because the people are more aware than they are credited for. Socialmedia Bill will not pass & the voice of the people will not be suppressed.

Our objectivity must never be traded for sensationalism. If the Govt are indeed funding an alternative, we will know. The tech community is too small for such a thing to pass by us without leaving a trail. Govt cannot afford to have Twitter work in the shadows. They know better.

…End of Celestial Observation…