Femi Branch hits Yemi Solade over his comments on Twitter ban

Femi Branch, Nollywood actor, has aimed a thinly-veiled dig at Yemi Solade, his colleague, over his recent comments on the suspension of Twitter’s operations in Nigeria.

Twitter had earlier deleted a tweet posted by President Muhammadu Buhari where he spoke of the Nigerian civil war experience and threatened to deal with citizens who are “bent on destroying” the country through “insurrection”.

The development culminated in the eventual suspension of the microblogging site by the federal government for “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

Solade had recently spoken about the federal government’s sanction on Twitter while claiming that the microblogging platform “insulted Buhari by deleting his tweet.”

His comments had sparked mixed reactions on social media platforms.

Joining the fray, Branch took to Instagram to put out a video where he said any private citizen “supporting the Twitter ban needs a brain exam”.

The actor, who avoided mentioning the name of his colleague, added that he needed to respond to what “the person said.”

“I just want to express myself on the whole Twitter ban, I said I was not going to say anything, but after hearing the comment of someone I don’t want to mention the name, I feel compelled to say something, very quickly,” he said.

“There is nothing good about the Twitter ban. Let’s even get that part sorted. It is only those that are working for or supporting the government that will see nothing wrong with the action of the government.

“We all know the role Twitter plays in our life as people, especially young people. In terms of job and expressing themselves. It is only somebody who is not progressive that will say the ban is a good thing.”

Citing what Solade had earlier said about “Twitter insulting Buhari,” Branch reminded his colleague that Donald Trump, immediate past US president, was removed from the microblogging platform while in power.

“We all know the role Twitter plays in spreading info that saves lives. It has done it severally and it keeps doing it. The Twitter ban isn’t good for our country and image. Why say it insulted the president of a country,” he added.

“Trump was removed from Twitter as a sitting president. For ours, Twitter just removed a tweet from his (Buhari’s) thread. Trump didn’t ban Twitter, even while he had the power to do that. That’s progressive.

“There’s a lot to the issue, which we all know. Let no one come out in support of it. If it’s somebody in government, I’ll understand. But if as a private individual, you call the ban a good thing, you need your brain examined.”