Saraki, Davido, Melaye… Nigerians gain followers despite Twitter purge

Twitter has been cleaning house, which has kept many on edge for the fear of their followers being swept away.

In continuance with the cleanup, Twitter announced on Tuesday that it has removed more than 143,000 apps which violated its policies between April and June.

The social media platform said it does not “tolerate the use of our APIs to produce spam, manipulate conversations, or invade the privacy of people using Twitter”.

Notable personalities like Barack Obama saw a significant drop of up to 2.5 million followers.

Twitter’s main account lost 7.5 million followers in one day, going from 62.85 million to 55.35.

Kim Kardashian-West lost 1.7 million followers, Rihanna lost 900,000 followers while Justin Bieber lost up to three million followers.

While many public figures across the pond have seen a significant drop in their followership, some Nigerian celebrities have seen their numbers rise since the purge began.

Based on the TheCable Lifestyle’s observation, between July 13 and 26, Wizkid’s followers increased from 4.13 million to 4.15 million while Davido saw his followership go from 3.85 million to 3.88 million.

Bukola Saraki has seen a significant rise in followership from 1.22 million to 1.23 million, and Japheth Omojuwa’s followers have also increased from 558,000 561,000.

Yemi Alade’s followers have risen from 286,000 to 287,100 while Tekno also has also had a boost from 303,000 to 308,000.

Tiwa Savage’s account rose from 2.2 million to 2.9 million while Don Jazzy’s followership increased from 2.77 million to 2.79 million.

Simi’s followers have risen from 388,600 to 394,200, and Adekunle Gold has also gained, going from 238,000 to 240,200.

Ben Murray-Bruce has also had a boost from 670,500 to 680,200 while Abubakar Atiku’s followers have risen from 1.4 million to 1.45 million.

Dino Melaye, who recently defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had a significant boost from 481,100 to 490,100, and President Muhammadu Buhari’s followers have risen from 1.51 million to 1.53 million.