“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian civil war. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war will treat them in the language they understand.”
On 1 June 2021, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari tweeted the above message as part of a lengthy thread speaking on a diverse range of issues. Within 24 hours the tweet had vanished, replaced by a message stating that it was removed for violating Twitter’s rules. Thus began one of the more unlikely global firestorm of 2021, bringing in everyone from Nigeria’s Attorney-General Abubakar Malami to former US President Donald Trump.
Why did Twitter take the unprecedented action of removing a tweet posted by the verified account of a sitting head of state, and what are the ramifications of President Buhari’s tweet and subsequent actions?
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