THE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has warned the Federal Government over its threat to arrest and prosecute some renowned Christian clerics for violating the country’s suspension of Twitter.
Recall that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had in statement on Friday by his spokesman, Segun Adeyemi, announced the suspension of the American microblogging platform.
Amidst the public outcry and criticism that followed the government’s decision, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, on Saturday directed the Director of Public Prosecution in his office to begin the process of prosecuting violators of the government’s suspension order.
Despite the prosecution order, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye; the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi; the Senior Pastor of the Daystar Christian Centre, Pastor Sam Adeyemi and the General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries International, Apostle Johnson Suleiman among otherrs have continued to use the platform.
The office of the AGF, through spokesman, Umar Gwandu, said the process of arresting and prosecuting these defaults had begun.
He said “the process of arresting and prosecuting offenders takes a while. It is not automatic.
“We are definitely on it to ensure the prosecution of all violators. The hands of all stakeholders are on deck to ensure that all those violating the Twitter ban are prosecuted.”
But the Special Assistant on Media to the President of CAN, Adebayo Oladeji, yesterday warned the FG against such move which he says will further compound issues.
He said, “We caution the Federal Government against carrying out its threats against those highly respected leaders. What they did was justified after all they run churches with global outlook and they made it clear in their position. If they (government) carry out the threat, it will only compound problems in the country.
“Any government policy that suspends the fundamental rights of the citizens is not acceptable to us. The government should rise to the menace of insecurity facing the country without harassing the innocent and elder statesmen.”
