Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has been criticised for tweeting on Wednesday despite the suspension placed on the app by the Federal Government.
Before Wednesday, Mr El-Rufai’s last tweet was on June 6, a day after the Federal Government suspended Twitter services for allegedly interfering in national issues.
However, the governor returned to Twitter after receiving praise for his works as the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
@dmightyangel had tweeted, “I really wish we will get more @elrufai in politics. The man left FCT and till date, the Federal Capital Territory has not been able to have another FCT minister that is close to the shoe latchet of El-Rufai in terms of courage, administration, performance & focus, 14 years ago o.”
El-Rufai replied, “This is an exaggerated compliment @dmightyangel but thank you for some of the words of encouragement. God Bless our nation.”
Nigerians immediately took to the comment section to criticise the governor for defying the suspension of Twitter services in Nigeria.
@dexybaba asked the governor if he was using a virtual private network, and he replied that he was out of the country, and “can tweet for the time being.”
#EndSARS promoter Rinu Oduala wrote, “The only place you get the freedom of speech is outside Nigeria.”
In response, El-Rufai maintained that Ms Oduala was wrong as “conflating Twitter with ‘freedom of speech’ is a significant exaggeration.”
He added, “Freedoms of many descriptions existed before and without Twitter, and will remain long after!! Enjoy your day.”
Co-convener of Bring Back Our Girls movement Aisha Yesufu said, “You really should be absolutely and disgustingly ashamed of yourself @elrufai. You are going outside to enjoy the very basic thing a government you are part of have denied the people. While enjoying Twitter without VPN, you also enjoy the security you have denied your people.”
