The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised the alarm the ban on the micro blogging giant, Twitter by the Federal Government was a prelude to a clamp down on the media in the country.
In a statement on Sunday by spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party fingered the national leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as being behind the ban.
The PDP said “revelations” available to it showed how APC leaders at one of their party’s national caucus meetings recommended the regulation of social media in Nigeria and how they have been plotting to obliterate internet-based interaction platforms like Twitter.
The main opposition party recalled how the APC has been pushing bills in the National Assembly, particularly in November 2020, seeking to enforce a draconian regulation of social media.
According to the PDP, the move was a veiled attempt to gag Nigerians from exposing the administration’s “atrocities, including human right abuses, treasury looting, nepotism and sectional marginalization by the APC administration”.
“Nigerians can also recall how the APC administration, in carrying out the agenda of its party, haas been using the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, to suffocate the media space with humongous fines and threats of suspension of operating license on broadcast stations.
“The PDP wants the APC to know that their plot against Nigerians have been exposed and cannot stand.
“Our nation is known for her resilient citizenry and no leader or political party has been able to suppress the wishes of Nigerians.
“The APC, in spite of its machinations, cannot vanquish Nigerians in their determination for a free and democratic nation where sovereignty belongs to the people”, the statement added.
