General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye today defended his continuous use of the Federal Government prohibited Twitter platform saying the right of the church to as regards their tweets is entrenched in the UN universal declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
In a tweet posted on his verified handle, the clergyman wrote, “The Redeemed Christian Church of God is domiciled in more than 170 Nations & Territories. The tweets here are in accordance to Article 19 of the UN universal declaration of Human Rights.”
Article 19 of the UDHR says “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
The Federal Government of Nigeria on Friday 11, placed an indefinite suspension on any form of access to the Twitter platform in Nigeria following the App management’s deletion of a controversial tweet by the country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the reason for the indefinite suspension of the microblogging and social networking service which boasts of over 40 million active users in the country, was due to the “persistent use of the platform for activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
Although the government has gone ahead to immediately enforce the order amidst public criticism and castigations, many Nigerians have continued to access the platform using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) as a bypass tunnel.
The Redeem Christian Church of God has also been observed to be using the platform in the promotion of the church’s activities.
Meanwhile, former Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose, has remained vocal in his condemnation of the decision by the FG insisting the right of Nigerians to freely express themselves cannot be crushed by any Government.
He was reacting to a directive by the Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami who ordered for the prosecution of any Nigerian found violating the ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria.
In response, Fayose immediately posted on his verified Twitter Handle, “AGF Malami, I just tweeted. No shaking!