We Have Work to Do Five Lessons for Pro-democracy Activists from the Twitter Ban

The Twitter ban only extends the long line of reasons to be pessimistic about the state of Nigeria. Despite the bleak outlook, we can draw five lessons from the Twitter ban for future political organizing. 

On The Nigerian government is threatening to arrest its citizens, for tweeting. Two weeks ago, via Twitter, the Ministry of Information and Culture announced the ‘indefinite suspension’ of the social media platform. Attorney-General Abubakar Malami doubled down by announcing the next day that he intended to enforce the ban through the ‘immediate prosecution of offenders’.

How did we get here? Sunday, 30 May was Biafran Remembrance Day, a holiday—not recognized by the federal government but celebrated in various parts of the South East—that memorializes the casualties of the Biafran War. The day of remembrance has taken on greater significance recently, as secessionist groups have grown in popularity and revived calls for an independent Biafran state. The government has alleged that these groups have turned to violent tactics to further their cause, blaming a recent prison break in Owerri and the assassination of several police officers on the Eastern Security Network (ESN), a paramilitary unit of the Indigenous People of Biafra or ‘IPOB’. For its part, IPOB has denied these allegations through their official spokeswoman, insisting that ESN focuses on ‘fighting terrorists in the bush’. President Buhari, via his official Twitter account, issued a public statement: ‘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.’ Twitter users interpreted the tweet as a veiled threat to revive the brutal tactics used by the Nigerian Army during the civil war. Several users reported the tweet to Twitter, and Twitter deleted it.