The petition to ban former Aide of President Goodluck Jonathan on Twitter has become one of the top signed on Change.org ever. The petition has been signed by over 150,000 signatures, making the platform to flag it as among the top signed petition in the history of the organisation.

The petition titled “Ban Reno Omokri from Twitter & Rescind his “Business Insider Influencer of the Year Award“” accused the former presidential aide of inciting violence against the Igbos of South eastern Nigeria, following the emergence of Mr. Peter Obi, an Igbo as the presidential candidate of Labour Party, a party the opponents term as not having “structure”.

The party has since become the most talked about and its presidential candidate has also become the most discussed and the most attacked by supporters of the top two Nigerian political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the hitherto main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The petitioners had referred to the ban of President Donald Trump in January 2021 by Twitter after writing tweets about the then US presidential election that posed a risk of inciting violence.

“On the 6th of July 2022, @renoomokri made the following tweet in response to a TV interview made by one of the presidential aspirants in the Nigerian election.

“While his Obidients are applauding that interview, if you watch it with an unbiased mind, you see that Peter Obi considers himself a pilot and Kwankwaso a mere driver and substitute player. The people of Kano heard that. The North heard that. Others Nigerians heard!”

“To prove that this was specifically targeted at the northern part of Nigeria and to emphasize his point, he retweet a version again in the Hausa language as follows.

“”Kwankwaso bashine Dan takaran shugaban kasa da nake so ba amma shi ba “Direban mota” da yake so ya “tuka jirgin nijeriya” ne ba kaman yadda Peter Obi ya fada yau a Arise.Kwankwaso ya gina abubuwa da yawa har da gina mutane.Jahilci ne a kwatanta shi da Direba mota”.

“Given the historical relationship between the northern and eastern parts (PeterObi hails from the east) of Nigeria, both tweets from @renoomokri have a massive risk of inciting ethnic violence in the northern part of Nigeria and subsequent reprisals in the east, especially since Kwankwaso has a huge following in the North and Peter Obi has a following in the east.

“Ethnic violence against the people of eastern Nigeria perpetuated in the northern part of Nigeria was one of the things that led to the Nigerian Civil war. Since then there have been multiple reports of ethnic violence in various parts of Nigeria. A lot of them are targeted at Ibos. In the east, some violence against northerners have occurred too.

“For @renoomokri to make such tweets to his 1.7million followers given the history of Nigeria is not only reckless and dangerous, but it is also extremely callous to try and stoke ethnic violence for political gain. @renoomokri is very knowledgeable about Nigeria’s history so he knows this only too well.

“It should be noted that this is not @renoomokri first tweet with the potential to incite violence in the North. Only a few weeks ago, he tweeted images of a muslim prayer mat and insinuated that haram was being perpetuated by Obi’s supporters in the North. This tweet was also dangerous because only on the 12th of May, 2022 a student was burnt to death because she was accused of committing haram in the north.

“@renoomokri should be stopped from continuing to use his Twitter influence to create the risk of ethnic or religious violence in Nigeria”, the petitioners alleged.

Asking for rescinding of an award given to Reno Omokri, the petitioners said, “We are also calling on @BusinessInsider to rescind the “Business Influencer of 2022” award granted to @renoomokri. One comment that may result in ethnic violence is more than enough for @BusinessInsider to do this. @renoomokri has made multiple tweets in this regard.

The risk to human life and property is too great if he remains on the platform and he continues his tweets”, they further alleged.

Signatories Give Reasons

Some of those who signed the petition gave reasons why they signed the petition.

Rufai Adam who signed four days days ago, said “I am signing this petition because Reno has been a discording tune on several platform and trying very hard to cause ethnic chaos and wars among Nigerians”.

Chukwuemeka Osuagwu, who also signed the petition four days ago, said, “I am signing because Reno Omokri knows the history of ethnoreligious violence in Nigeria.

“Stoking up such sentiments when many are genuinely building bridges across those lines is devious. I have watched the emergency of youth enthusiasm in the political process across the country.

“It is unsavory for an a well travelled and educated man to make comments on happenings in Nigeria that he will never make concerning matters in the US where he lives.

“He thinks Nigeria will not hold him accountable but Twitter will”, he said.

Also, given her reason, Nwakile Nkiru, who signed at about 10:50am on Monday July 11, 2022, an hour before the filing of this report, said, “Hes a bully”.

Also an hour ago, Luis Scott wrote, “He is using his political power to promote tribal disunity”.

Franklin Nonso said, “Hiding abroad and stoking violence back home in ur country isn’t cool at all. Nigeria has a very volatile history when it comes to religious and ethnic violence and this Reno guy is about to restart it if he’s not called to order.

“Twitter should remove him now or be ready to fit the blood of Nigerians”, he wrote.

24 hours ago, Ali Mohammed, wrote “Reno omokri Twitter account has to be blocked for instigating war in Nigeria”.

More petitioners have continued to sign the petition that required 50, 000 signatures but has now exceeded 150,000.

Petition To Be Open Until Reno Omokri Apologises Or…

Two days ago, while 105,000 signatures had signed, the initiator of the petition, had on July 9, 2022 accused Reno Omokri of emotional blackmail against the petitioners by playing the victim, saying that “To be clear, we are not after Reno Omokri’s life or his family’s. We are just after his Twitter account.

“Reno’s post yesterday about his life and his family’s being in danger is a case of emotional blackmail.

“He is playing the victim, so you, I, and the other 105,000 Nigerians who have signed this petition will back down. He wants to convert our anger towards pity for him.

“The fact is @renoomokri endangered the lives and properties of Nigerians when he made those inflammatory tweets. He risked our lives in Nigeria while living comfortably outside the country.

“The very sensitive images of the praying mat with Peter Obi’s images would never have been brought to the forefront of national discussions if @renoomokri had not tweeted them.

“Some of our Muslim brothers and sisters would have probably ignored it if @renoomokri hadn’t brought those images to the screens of 1.7million Nigerians.”, the originator said

The petitioners added, “Playing politics is okay, but playing with the lives of thousands of Nigerians is not okay. This is why we will keep this petition open and going.

“We will keep it open until @twitter bans Reno Omokri from Twitter and @BusinessInsider rescind the award given to him.
“OR
“@renoomokri accepts fault, publicly apologizes to all Nigerians, and desists from continuing to stoke ethnic and religious sentiments.

“His apology should be in both written and video formats”, the petitioners demanded.

To see the petition, click here or visit the Change.org website.

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