Festus Keyamo, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has reacted to the decision of the Court of the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS), stopping President Muhammadu Buhari from prosecuting defaulters of the ban placed on microblogging platform, Twitter.
The Federal Government had recently suspended the operation of Twitter in Nigeria owing to allegations that it allows content capable of threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria.
Despite the ban, some Nigerians have continued to access Twitter via the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Reacting to the violation of the order, the Federal Government had vowed to prosecute the defaulters, including prominent Nigerians who dared his administration.
But the ECOWAS Court on Tuesday delivered a ruling which restrained President Buhari administration from arresting or prosecuting Nigerians using Twitter.
Reacting to the judgment, Keyamo said he had not seen anywhere where they said the ECOWAS Court is the moral thermometer or barometer to decide whether Nigeria’s image is bad or not.
The minister spoke during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.
Keyamo said, “I have not seen anywhere where they said the ECOWAS court is the moral thermometer or barometer to decide whether Nigeria’s image is bad or not.
“Nobody is saying that people should not use social media platforms, nobody is saying that we should not call government officials to ask questions. Nobody is saying that you should not even abuse us but is it right for you to go to social media and promote false stories that are capable of turning one part of the country against another?” he queried.
