Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has said that it is hypocritical for the All Progressives Congress, APC, to contemplate banning or regulating social media after using it to hoodwink Nigerians to attain power.
He argued that the APC led government had miserably failed, and wanted to use its disagreement with Twitter as a false premise to suppress criticism of the administration’s alleged appalling handling of the affairs of the nation “through the dubious regulation of social media.”
The governor, who made the assertion during the inauguration of nine reconstructed streets – Nzimiro, Herbert Macaulay, Amassoma, Arochukwu, Atako, Ogoja, Akure, Yola and Chinwo in Old Government Residential Area of Port Harcourt – noted that APC having become the butt of jokes on social networks, was desperate to trample on freedom of expression of Nigerians.
“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. 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.
“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?”
Governor Wike said the kidnap of scores of students at Federal Government Girls College, Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State on Thursday, was a further demonstration of APC gross ineptitude to guarantee safety of lives and property of Nigerians.
According to him, Nigerians are anxious for the APC to quit power and allow the more experienced Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to once again restore stability in the polity and dignity of the nation.
The governor also took a swipe at the presidency for berating PDP governors, who demanded for transparency and accountability in the way the Nigerian National Petroleum , NNPC, is managed and that the APC led government should be alive to its constitutional responsibility to protect lives and property.
“In Kebbi, 40 to 50 girls have been kidnapped, our young daughters. And then, you are telling me we (PDP) have not proffered solution. Which solution are you talking about? The President is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is the president that appoints all the security heads in this country.
“No governor has the power or any role to appoint even a Commissioner of Police. And then you are telling me that we have not proffered any solution. What solution do you want us to proffer? When you have taken your oath of office that you are going to guarantee the lives and property of Nigerians.”
Wike noted that even President Muhammad Buhari during his recent television interview, disclosed to Nigerians that he has nothing left to offer the country in terms of good governance.
