Updated: Twitter removes Buhari’s tweet referencing Nigeria’s civil war, Fayose, others react

Following outcry from those who complained it violated principle of glorifying violence, Twitter has deleted a tweet made by President Muhammadu Buhari threatening to deal with ‘people’ who didn’t learn from the Nigerian Civil War.

The President, on Tuesday evening, tweeted the following in response to rising insecurity in parts of the country, especially the south-east:

“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War.

Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”

The tweet struck a nerve with some Nigerians who opined that it was a subtle jibe at the Igbo people. Many condemned the tone of the message which referenced the 1967 civil war, in which millions of lives were lost.

The President subtly boasted about the role he played alongside other Nigerian military officers in the Nigerian Civil War of 1966-70, during which over three million Igbo were killed, many of them rounded up and shot at close range or starved to death.

A check on the president’s official account reveals that the Tweet has been removed.

Twitter explained the move by stating that the tweet violated its rules.

“When we determine that a Tweet violated the Twitter Rules, we require the violator to remove it before they can Tweet again.

We send an email notification to the violator identifying the Tweet(s) in violation and which policies have been violated.”

“They will then need to go through the process of removing the violating Tweet or appealing our review if they believe we made an error.”

However, former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has mocked President Muhammadu Buhari following Twitter’s deletion of his sensitive tweet on Nigerian Civil War.

Reacting to Twitter’s deletion of Buhari’s tweet, Fayose mocked: “When is Mr President Buhari using his power as Commander-in-chief to “show Twitter pepper” for deleting his tweets? Or Twitter will just delete our President’s tweets just like that and there won’t be consequences?”

The former governor added: “Nigeria is boiling everywhere and all that the President can do is to be threatening genocide up and down.

“Now that Twitter has dealt with our almighty President Buhari, won’t he “deal” with Twitter too? Like Trump, like Buhari.”

He said it was obvious that those exercising Buhari’s powers for him did not know when and where to stop their power-madness.

“Regrettable, Twitter may not know that the President isn’t the one operating the handle.

“A president who cannot address his own people in time of crisis can certainly not be the one tweeting on the crisis.

“Twitter should rather hold Garba Shehu, Lie Mohammad and co accountable,” he tweeted.