Facebook, popular social network, has stated why the page of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) was yanked off the networking site.
Mr Kanu, a fugitive facing charges of treasonable felony, had his facebook page banned Tuesday night.
The ban occurred hours after he ended a live broadcast where he propagated the activities of his group seeking a return of defunct Biafra Republic.
He used to page to publicize the existence of Eastern Security Network (ESN) recently formed by the secessionist group to tackle violent herdsmen in the old eastern region.
It said it security outfit was a replica of Amotekun, a regional security outfit, in the South-West unleashed on violent herders.
In a statement from a spokesman of the U.S-based company to TODAY POLITICS, the networking site cited hate speech as its reason for the expulsion.
It also said the activities of the secessionist leader on its platform goes against its community standard.
“We believe in giving people a voice, but we also want everyone using Facebook to feel safe. It’s why we have Community Standards, which set out what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook, and we remove anything that violates them,” the spokesman wrote in an email to TODAY POLITICS, adding that, “In line with our rules, we removed Nnamdi Kanu’s page for repeatedly posting content that breaks those Community Standards, including content that violated our rules on coordinating harm and hate speech.”
The outlawed group has berated Facebook, saying it allowed itself to be used by agents of oppression in Nigeria to suppress the truth.
“We strongly condemn this attitude of Facebook Managers in Lagos and Abuja who collude with corrupt Nigerian government officials to suppress free flow of Information via their platform,” Emma Powerful, spokesperson of IPOB said Wednesday.
“This unconscionable and reprehensible attitude amounts to partnering with perpetrators of human rights abuses and other criminal activities masterminded by the Nigeria State against innocent citizens.
“The federal government and its foot soldiers – terrorist herdsmen and bandits – have continued to subjugate indigenous nations in the country including Biafrans with the intent for conquest. These foot soldiers on daily basis unleash all sorts of mayhem on the innocent and hapless indigenous peoples while the federal government mischievously remains docile.
“These vampires masquerading as herdsmen have forcibly seized our forests and converted our farms to grazing fields for their cattle. They have equally turned our ancestral lands to slaughterhouses where they kill with impunity in most dehumanising manners, innocent locals going about their legitimate business.
“They commit these crimes unchallenged by security operatives. They kidnap for ransom, maim and rape our women. They feed their cattle with our crops, and Facebook is saying we don’t have a right to cry out?
“Now that our Leader has started exposing the atrocities of these wolves in human clothing, Facebook have decided to be an accomplice to mass murder and oppressive tendencies of Fulani Janjaweed rulers of Nigeria.
“Why should Facebook block the account of the leader of the largest peaceful mass movement in the world for speaking the bitter truth people are too terrified to talk about? Why hasn’t Facebook prevailed on the perpetrators of these heinous crimes in Nigeria to stop their atrocities instead of denying innocent victims media access?
“Facebook is quick to fall for the lie of agents of oppression and accuse us of hate speech but fails to realise that hate action begets hate speech if in Facebook lexicon, bitter truth translates to hate speech.
“This unholy act is only akin to what Britain and her allies did to Biafra during the Genocidal War of 1967-70 when they imposed land, air and media blockade on Biafra in order to deny the truth about the ongoing genocide from coming out.
“But our message to Facebook is simple: no matter how hard you try to suppress the gospel of truth being preached by our leader, the struggle for Biafra liberation cannot be slowed down. On the contrary, our efforts will be intensified because Biafra restoration is a divine mandate that must be accomplished in this era.
“We are very resolute in our resolve to restore Biafra and will not be deterred. If you like block all Biafran activists on your platform, we shall keep pushing on until Biafra is fully restored.
“We therefore, wish to encourage our leader’s teeming global audience to follow him and hook up to his live broadcasts via IPOB’s numerous other platforms. Our leader can be followed through many other platforms such as: Twitter YouTube, IPOB Community Radio app, Radio Biafra app, Satellite and FM.
“May we therefore remind all those local staff of Facebook in Lagos and Abuja that but for Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB, their families in their communities would have today been overrun by herdsmen and terrorists. An accomplice to a cruel man will surely get the reward of cruelty!” the group added.
