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Pastor Adeboye tweets, ‘Everyone has right to freedom of opinion…’
BY KAZIE UKO
The General Overseer (GO) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has weighed in on the Twitter war between the Federal Government of Nigeria, on one hand, and Twitter and Nigerian tweeps, on the other.
Without pitching a tent on either side, the revered cleric, not given to multitude of words, declared that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
Adeboye’s judgment could be likened to the wise judgment of Biblical Solomon whose ruling, in a case of two feuding women who laid claim to a child, had restored the baby to its rightful mother.
Citing Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he described tweeting as individual right and as such protected by the declaration.
Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
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To press home his point, Adeboye, on Monday, via his verified Twitter handle, @PastorEAAdeboye, tweeted: “The Redeemed Christian Church of God is domiciled in more than 170 nations and territories. The tweets here are in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations universal declaration of human rights.”
Nigeria’s Federal Government had last Friday suspended the operations of Twitter in the country, barely two days after the social media platform deleted a tweet by the President Muhammadu Buhari, which many Nigerians believed was unbecoming of a national leader.
The government had gone ahead to instruct telecommunications companies to disconnect Twitter services to Nigerians.
Despite the ban, however, many Nigerians have found a way to by-pass the ban by using Virtual Private Networks to access Twitter, a move which has further infuriated the government.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, subsequently directed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF) to begin the process of prosecuting Nigerians who continue to use Twitter after the ban.
The Nigerian government has come under severe criticisms from several rights groups and the international community for stifling free speech.