Rivers governor Nyesom Wike has lashed out at President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for scheming to gag Nigerians after deploying social media to lie and gain power. 

Mr Buhari regime announced a ban on Twitter on June 4, blocking citizens’ access to the micro-blogging site, following the deletion of Mr Buhari’s  tweet in which he threatened a repeat of civil war genocide in South-East Nigeria. 

In a statement by his spokesperson Kelvin Ebiri on Friday, Mr Wike said it is an irony that the APC is scheming to ban social media after lying to wrest power from the PDP and former president Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. 

“You have misled the country.

“You told us lies through social media. The same social media that you used to take over government, the same social media you want to regulate and ban,” Mr Wike said. 

He further said scheming by the APC and Mr Buhari regime to ban Twitter is an attempt to gag Nigerians and an attack on Nigerians freedom of speech. 

“The same social media you used to tell Nigerians lies of how former President Goodluck Jonathan did not do this, how PDP did not do that,” Mr Wike said. 

“Now, you want the same social media to be regulated. You don’t want freedom of speech. Now, you want to gag them. Did anybody gag you when you were using them?” 

Both local and internationally, Twitter ban by Mr Buhari regime is condemned as the latest of attack on press and freedom of speech of Nigerians. 

The United State of America, the UK and other international rights groups have condemned Twitter ban in Nigeria, saying it is an affront on freedom of expression and commercial endeavour, urging that it should be reversed.