We are ‘not aware’ of Buhari’s tweet deleted by Twitter – FG

The Federal Government has stated that it was not aware of the controversial tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari last month that was deleted by the microblogging site.

This was contained in a counter-affidavit filed before the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court in response to a suit instituted by a human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong.

Joined as first to third respondents in the suit are the AGF, the Minister of Information, and the Federal Government.

The affidavit reportedly read, “The first and third respondents are not aware of any tweet purportedly emanating from President Muhammadu Buhari which Twitter investigated and found that it violated Twitter rules and that Twitter did not consider it proper to inform the third respondent of such.

Recall that in the wake of the rampant insecurity in the south-eastern part of the country, the president had responded by tweeting that “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.”

This tweet was later deleted by the microblogging site, saying it violated its rules.

Two days after Twitter deleted Buhari’s post, the Nigerian government announced the ban of the microblogging site for allegedly promoting insurrection in the country.