Mr Garba Shehu has denied that he made comment on the Twitter Africa base news as being reported in some quarters. He said he never reacted to the Twitter choice of Ghana as their Africa base/headquarters.
Mr Garba Shehu who is the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and Publicity, in a tweet on his official Twitter handle on Tuesday, tweeted saying:
“I did not comment on the Twitter choice of Ghana as their Africa base. There are many who have the same names with me,” he said.
He continued by adding:
“It will be mistaken of anyone to attribute a quote to me or even the Presidency that my verified handles did not bear”.
While it is true that Garba Shehu never made any comment or released any statement as regarding Twitter Africa base, Presidential Aides such as Bashir Ahmad and Tolu Ogunlesi immediately the news broke and how Nigerians reacted (mostly negative) towards the news, were busy posting old tweets from Facebook to downplay the implications of Twitter’s choice of Ghana as their Twitter Africa base and not Nigeria.
On his part, Bashir Ahmad who is the Personal Assistant on New Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, while reacting to the Twitter Africa base news, retweeted an old tweet from 2020 by Facebook, where the publication stated that Facebook is to open an office in Lagos, Nigeria.
He then tweeted: “Welcome to Nigeria, a great country,” with the Nigerian flag.
Tolu Ogunlesi who is the Special Assistant to President Buhari on Digital and New Media, was more triggered by how Nigerians have reacted by bashing the President.
In a series of tweet on Monday 12th April 2021, he frowned at how Nigerians are dragging the President on the issue. He tweeted saying:
“I’m honestly not sure why everything must be turned into a childish pissing contest, by small-minded folks! It’s great for West Africa. We’re delighted for Ghana!!,”
“When Microsoft opened $100m development centers in Nigeria and Kenya @MicrosoftADC (first two in Africa!) nobody went about dissing South Africa or politicizing anything. Because it’d have been silly. Grow up, guys!,” he said.
Not done, he tweeted further:
“One of Google’s new big investments is in a new undersea cable that’ll be landing first in Nigeria & SA (Nigeria is first branch!), “with approx 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve this region.” Its named after a Nigerian!.”
He continued:
“A time must come when we all grow up and stop these childish pissing and dissing games. Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, SA are ALL getting a lot of recognition and investment from tech companies and investors. Let’s stop behaving like crabs, as if it’s a Zero Sum game. It’s stupid!
And the desire to cast every good thing that happens to another country in negative light for Nigeria (even while similar good stuff is happening here) is not just a fascinating cognitive bias but also a debilitating sickness that modern medicine needs to get to the bottom of,” he added.
From the Garba Shehu’s tweet saying he never commented on the Twitter Africa base and the choice of Ghana over Nigeria, and the tweets from both Bashir and Tolu, is it clear that these individuals are acting independely on their own. It also shows as media reps for the President, non of them though it wise enought to to discuss the issue first privately, before issuing or reacting differently and some how desperate to the news.
Twitter CEO Jack who actively supported the #EndSARS protests with an emoji, had released a statement on Monday stating that they are opening twitter Africa base in Ghana. His statement was greeted with alot of mixed reactions, especially from Nigerians with the huge presence on the social media app.
Although Jack and Twitter did not mention why Nigeria was not picked as their location for their headquarters, but the reasons given as to why Ghana was picked, clearly shows that the activities during the protests across the country, and how the Government reacted towards peaceful protesters, influenced the choice of Ghana.
This statement by Twitter highlighted the reasons why they picked Ghana:
Why Ghana?
As a champion for democracy, Ghana is a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate. Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host The Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa.
Whenever we enter new markets, we work hard to ensure that we are not just investing in the talent that we hire, but also investing in local communities and the social fabric that supports them,” the statement said.
Responding, President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo on his official Twitter page revealed that the partnership was agreed upon after a virtual meeting with Jack.
His tweet read: “The choice of Ghana as Headquarters for Twitter’s Africa operations is EXCELLENT news. The government and Ghanaians welcome very much this announcement and the confidence reposed in our country.”
President Nana Akufo-Addo while welcoming the development described the partnership as exciting for Ghana’s tech sector.
His tweet read: “As I indicated to Jack in our virtual meeting which held on 7th April 2021, this is the start of a beautiful partnership between Twitter and Ghana, which is critical for the development of Ghana’s hugely important tech sector.
“These are exciting times to be in, and to do business in Ghana.”