Apple has finally removed Parler whilst Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube are now banning alternative voices and those that are considered to be Trump supporters and right wing conservatives. Alternative voices have been silenced & censorship is the order of the day. Those in Nigeria that are celebrating this ugly turn of events will cry last.

If anyone here thinks that full censorship of the social and traditional media will not be imposed in our country over the next few months and if they believe that ANY voice or medium that speaks against the Govt will be allowed to thrive & function & will not be silenced or closed down then that person is simply daft.

Big tech, the international television networks & the Liberal Left fascist media have just given Buhari and his APC thugs a free pass and licence to silence us, rule over us & impose their will on us well into the distant future.

Nigerians that are supporting this mass censorship are simply cutting their noses to spite their faces. They have been blinded by their hate for Trump& are acting & thinking out of ignorance.

When the FG introduces the most draconian legislation to curb social media & possibly even ban some of it and when they come down hard on the traditional media including newspapers and television stations for airing or reflecting the views of the opposition and those that are against them no Nigerian should complain.

I say this because they have refused to condemn it, they have asked for it, they have encouraged it and they have applauded it. That is what they wanted and that is what they will get.

Some have said, rather naively, that Twitter, YouTube, Facebook or Instagram are private companies with their own rules and regulations and if any of them bans or censors you, you can simply go elsewhere.

Well the principle of freedom of speech is universal and whether it is a private company or a tyrannical government that seeks to limit or censor it makes NO difference. Either way it is wrong. Private companies do NOT have the right to silence dissenting voices any more than Governments do.

Either of the two that do are simply indulging in an abuse of power and attempting to dominate the discourse and block the flow of information and free speech. Even if you disagree with someone or their view is a minority opinion, it does not mean that you have the right to shut them down or out.

Freedom is about hearing everyone's voice and allowing everyone to express themselves freely and without fear and not about shutting down those you do not like or agree with.

In any case those that talk about going "elsewhere" clearly are not following events because the only significant "elsewhere" was Parler and they have just been shut down by Big Tech. Company Apple who just removed them from their App. on the grounds that they are allowing people to air contrary views.

Get it now? There is no ELSEWHERE and where one is established or created it eventually gets SHUT DOWN for allowing a plurality of views and an alternative point of view to world events.

Surely even the dullest amongst us can appreciate and understand the implications and dangers of that!

This is nothing but barefaced FASCISM!

(FFK)