Lord, Have Mercy On Twitter

Lord, have mercy on Twitter, for it has sinned. The proud and arrogant Twitter has dared to fiddle with the tail of a cobra. Basking on the euphoria of its successful ban on Donald J. Trump – the then most powerful man in the world, Twitter has last week moved to quickly delete the Nigerian President’s harmless tweet.  Twitter has sinned and must crawl on its knees for mercy. Twitter has an exaggerated opinion about its self-importance and powers. Just because its annual turnover of $3.72 billion is 10% of Nigeria’s 2021 budget does not give it the audacity to vet our President’s tweet.  Not even the fact that its army of 353 million daily users overwhelms Nigeria’s projected population of 200 million gives Twitter the effrontery to challenge our highly revered leader.  It was a gross miscalculation on Twitter’s part. The company should have known it could only flex its muscles in climes where institutions were strong and where human rights were inalienable rights. 

Dear Lord, have mercy on Twitter, for it has sinned.  By its unpardonable sin, Twitter has angered our nation’s indefatigable Minister of Information and frustrated our cerebral Attorney General and Minister for Justice. These are men that are not just in government but also in power. They are the very best of our nation and speak the truth eloquently and consistently on behalf of the government and the people. To anger them is to court our trouble.  Nigerians are ready to take up arms in defense of these men who have the ears and the mouth of our president.  Which explains why Nigerians are as mad as hell. In their anger, they have been using VPN to bypass the Twitter ban just so they can lambast the micro blogging site and praise the action of their quiet and uncompromising leader and his cohorts. Twitter should have let the sleeping dog lie and not disturb the celebrated pace of our nation’s legendary go-slow and laissez-faire governance. 

Lord, have mercy, for Twitter did not only sin, it has caused our respected Pastors Enoch Adejare Adeboye and Williams Folorunso Kumuyi to sin against you and the divine authority. They each twitted in defiance of the ban instead of praying for God to prolong the life of the president. They should have seen that the president meant well with his timely tweet that only disgruntled elements consider an insult on the nation’s  sensibilities. This unscrupulous Twitter has made two of the nation’s most popular clergies find their voices and fight on the side of the people - a feat that the seeming collapse of the security apparatus and the dehumanizing economic woes could not achieve. 

Dear Lord, have mercy on Twitter for deleting our leader’s tweet. Have mercy on our leaders for deleting ‘we the people’ from being their first constitutional responsibility.  Have mercy on us all for deleting our leaders as inconsequential to our individual and national aspirations.  Lord, have mercy!