By Olajide Meseko
Former US President Donald Trump has “congratulated” Nigeria over the recent suspension of the operations of Twitter in the country.
On June 4, Lai Mohammed, minister of information, had announced the “indefinite” suspension of Twitter in Nigeria for allowing its platform to be used for activities that “undermine Nigeria’s corporate existence”.
The federal government’s announcement came days after Twitter deleted a post by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump congratulated the federal government on the decision, and urged other countries to follow suit.
“Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President. More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech—all voices should be heard,” the statement reads.
“In the meantime, competitors will emerge and take hold. Who are they to dictate good and evil if they themselves are evil? Perhaps I should have done it while I was President. But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was. 2024?”
Trump’s statement comes days after Facebook banned him from accessing his social media accounts for two years.
Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram had been earlier suspended, over claims that he had used the platforms to mobilise his followers against the outcome of the November 2020 presidential election — which he lost.
The former US president has also been reportedly linked to the January 2021 invasion of Capitol Hill, which led to the death of at least four persons.