'People Making Unsubstantiated Claims On Social Media Should Be Arrested' - Governor Umahi

Governor David Nweze Umahi of Ebonyi State has urged the Department of State Security Service, DSS, to arrest people making unsubstantiated claims on social media.

Governor Umahi said this during an interview on Channels TV on Thursday.

Umahi attributed the high level of crime in the country to "unpatriotic acts" by many Nigerians.

He said many political leaders from various regions go on television to attack each other and "castigate the leader of the country".

Umahi further said that political leaders making unguarded statements should be summoned by relevant security agencies for explanations, adding that the country cannot afford to be plunged into another war.

He stated: "If you are making a statement on social media and call it freedom of speech, you must come to the law to substantiate it."

He said the communal clash in Ebonyi would have stopped if not for politicians making unguarded statements on social media.

"Never in the history of this country have we been so divided because of politics, because people want power by all means," the governor lamented.

On the rampant burning of police stations in the southeast, Umahi described the act as "pure criminality".

Umahi’s reaction comes a week after the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed said Twitter chose Ghana as the headquarters for its African operations, due to unpatriotic comments of Nigerians who demarket Nigeria.

Mr Mohammed said the tech giants chose Accra, Ghana over Nigeria because the nation’s West African neighbours are champions of democracy and abide by the rule of law.

The minister had said: “The reasons cited by Twitter for citing the headquarters in Accra, Ghana is that Accra is a champion of democracy and there is rule of law in the country, among other reasons. This is what you get when you de-market your country.''