Between The Golden Goose And The Clay Gander

Spread the love

Between The Golden Goose And The Clay Gander

By Maiwada Dammalam

When sometime in 2021, the Federal Government suspended the operations of the American microblogging and social networking service, “X” (formerly Twitter), for deleting a tweet by then President Buhari which was assessed by God-knows-which-standards to be offensive, the global policing instinct of the US went into overdrive; condemning the Nigerian government for attempts to unduly restrict the ability of Nigerians to report, gather, and disseminate opinions and information which, according to the USA, has no place in a democracy.

The deleted presidential tweet on which basis the USA went berserk condemning Nigeria was nowhere near the cause for alarm the US made out of it. Actually pessimistic observers like me believed the U.S. only had too much time in its hands and too little to do back then hence, went searching for low hanging asses to kick either for game or to over-blow it’s image of control and supremacy.

The presidential tweet merely threatened to deal with people in the country’s southeast, who former President Buhari blames for the recurring attacks on public infrastructure in the region. This, without recourse to the volatility of the security situation in the southeastern part of Nigeria, Twitter, an American company, assessed to be offensive and disrespectfully deleted.

The Nigerian Government promptly and responsibly responded by suspending the microblogging company indefinitely. The statement accused the American social media company of allowing its platform to be used for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence. Promptly, the United States came out shamelessly; full throttle condemning the suspension of Twitter; accusing Nigeria of undermining democracy by suppressing freedom of expression by the directives to the Nigerian National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to order all television and radio broadcasters to cease using Twitter.

Now the chickens are home to roost. Today the almighty United States of America has banned the popular microblogging platform “TikTok for (tighten your seatbelt and wait for it) the risks that TikTok’s ties to China pose to USA’s national security. Lawmakers and U.S. officials have sounded the alarm for years about the supposed risks that TikTok’s ties to China pose to national security, and Congress moved last year to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its stake in the app or be cut off from the U.S. market.

It’s apparent that, to the USA, freedom of expression only comes with responsibility when it’s USA’s national security at stake. One could even say that national security, whether USA’s or anybody’s is exclusively defined or sometimes even determined by the USA. Is USA pretending not to know how Twitter was used to almost set Nigeria on fire during the #EndSARS protest which caused the unnecessary and preventable deaths of many innocent lives and the massive destruction of private and public properties?

Did the USA raise a finger to reprimand Twitter for its demonic complicity in the protests? No! Not even the highly irresponsible, undiplomatic and outsize role of Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, who went out of his way to recognize and mobilize donations for the protesters, could help the USA to see the difference between a global coalition against the supposed irresponsible governance the protests were said to aiming to address and the flagrant assault on the national security and sovereignty of Nigeria that it turned out to be.

So, if “X” (formerly Twitter), could enjoy the support and protection of the USA for promoting freedom of expression, dissemination of opinions and information in as uncontrolled and seemingly uncontrollable situations like Nigeria and other lesser places, how’s TikTok such a danger to a highly controlled and very controllable situation like the United States of America, perhaps the most technologically advanced country in the world? Yeah, possibly this is the proof that the USA was just looking for asses to kick when it came calling for blood over the ban of Twitter for a justifiable rascality.

In a nutshell, this is a wake-up call for Africans, especially African leaders, to take the fate of Africa in their hands rather than playing lapdogs to the USA or any power at that. What’s not good for the goose shouldn’t be any good to the gander. If the USA with all its display of real and exaggerated might could decide to ban a microblogging company to serve its national security interests, then no blue-eyed or pink-eared self-appointed global policeman should teach Africans where the right for freedom of expression, dissemination of opinions and information begins and end and where national security takes over.

This is hypocrisy at its worse.

Maiwada Danmalam is a public affairs analyst

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *