Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai
By Our Reporter
Human Rights activist, Aisha Yesufu has criticized the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai for using the microblogging platform, Twitter, on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 while out of the country despite the ban placed on the app by the Federal Government.
Aisha wrote.“You really should be absolutely and disgustingly ashamed of yourself @elrufai,. You are going outside to enjoy the very basic thing a government you are part of have denied the people. While enjoying Twitter without VPN, you also enjoy the security you have denied your people.”
El-Rufai whose last tweet was on June 6, a day after the Nigerian government suspended the activities of Twitter, attracted the attention of Nigerians when he replied to a fan eulogizing his virtues on account of his score card as the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja
Taiwo Ajakaye with the handle, @dmightyangel had tweeted, “I really wish we will get more @elrufai in politics. The man left FCT and till date, the Federal Capital Territory has not been able to have another FCT minister that is close to the shoe latchet of El-Rufai in terms of courage, administration, performance & focus, 14 years ago o.”
While responding to the tweet, El Rufai wrote, “This is an exaggerated compliment @dmightyangel but thank you for some of the words of encouragement. God Bless our nation. – @elrufai”
The Governor’s response generated lots of reactions in the comment section, a Twitter user @dexybaba asked El-Rufai if he was using a Virtual Private Network, and he replied that he was out of the country, and “can tweet for the time being.”
Reacting to the development, #EndSARS campaigner, and human rights activist, Rinu Oduala stated that “The only place you get the freedom of speech is outside Nigeria,”
Another Twitter user, @ogbuebunu, quoting her tweet, also said, “shamelessness without a pair. Tweeting under the pretence of being outside the country shows moral bankruptcy. One would expect he would stand on a high ground since it was his party that banned Twitter. Well, he is still a Nigerian politician. Zero integrity.”
In response, Governor El-Rufai maintained that Rinu was wrong as “conflating Twitter with ‘freedom of speech’ is a significant exaggeration.”
“Freedoms of many descriptions existed before and without Twitter, and will remain long after!! Enjoy your day,” he said.
It would be recalled that El Rufai had tweeted on June 6 after the ban of Twitter by the federal government and a former aide of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, called on the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to prosecute El-Rufai for flouting the Twitter ban.
Omokri tweeted “Dear @MalamiSAN, @elrufai tweeted this 20 minutes ago in violation of your #TwitterBan. If you do not start your arrest and prosecution with him, then you must admit that you are a failure and a man who does not keep to his word,”.
