Nigerians lambast Buhari for disabling comment on tweets

 

Some Nigerians on Twitter have kicked against the decision of the President, Muhammadu Buhari , to disable the comment section of his tweets.

 

When visited, the President’s Twitter handle, @MBuhari, he had restricted comments to his tweets from January 15, 2021.

 

Attempts to make a comment on the posts proved abortive, as a message prompted, saying only those mentioned in the tweet can comment.

With this, many Nigerians on Twitter can no longer express their grievances or support government policies via the president’s handle.

 

The restrictions became noticeable when many Nigerians wanted to react to the appointment of service chiefs announced on the President’s handle.

 

Buhari, on Tuesday, removed service chiefs and appointed a new set of officers to replace them.

 

Those newly appointed are Chief of Defence Staff, Major-General Lucky Irabor; Chief of Army Staff, Major-General I. Attahiru; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, and the Chief of Air Staff, Air-Vice Marshal Isiaka Amao.

 

Findings showed that Attahiru, who was elevated to the position of Chief of Army Staff by the President, was in 2017 removed as the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole for failing to stop Boko Haram in 2017.

 

A Nigerian on Twitter, @Jimmie_Jaymz, described the president’s blocking of comments as “shameful”.

Also, @dat_biglee411 said, “A king that’s afraid to communicate or block his people from speaking with him, is that one a king?”

 

“This is evil,” another tweep, @ak12, added.

 

@UnofficialGCFR said, “How can a president put off comment for every post? I am not getting it. Who do we offend in this country? Physical public address – no; online presence – no! Too bad.”

 

@Dr_Clandestine said, “This is the cyber equivalent of shutting down TV/radio stations and giving recorded “public” addresses where no “public” or journalist can ask follow-up questions. One-way communication ≠ democracy.”

 

@Manpolen noted that “President Buhari disabling comment section to his tweets, means that he lacks confidence in his own tweets.”

 

However, some tweeps blamed the action on the president’s media handlers.

 

“President Buhari is too old to handle the Twitter page. What a useless media personnel.

 

“Trump as arrogant as he was as the president of the United States, one could comment on his Twitter handle.”

 

@MrTonySpeaks1 added, “They can only run but definitely can’t hide from our expressions. They must continue to hear the truth. We will respectfully make our concerns known.

 

“Even if they block the comments, we will keep mentioning them on our daily tweets. This is the most unapologetic government we ever had.”