Social media giant Facebook has shut down an account run by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The deletion comes hours after the Eastern Security Network (ESN) initiator, Monday, vowed to reveal some strategies to flush out killer herdsmen from the Southeast.
It also comes days after the IPOB leader posted a video showing the eviction of killer herdsmen from Southeast forests and killing of cows owned by Fulani herders by the ESN.
Spokesman for the IPOB, Mr. Emma Powerful could not be reached immediately for comment. Facebook Inc. did not provide explanation over of the deletion despite inquiries.
But in a backup account allegedly owned by Kanu, @Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, which appears to be parody, the IPOB leader alleged that the Nigerian government paid Facebook to pull down his page.
“The zoo have payed(sic) Facebook to delete my the other page,but we are unstoppable, We are the great children’s of chukwu okikeabiama, The zoo is gone forever, #wemove,” he wrote.
Checks by Igbere TV late Tuesday shows that the Facebook account used by the IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu to address his followers and front the Biafra struggle was no longer visible to the public.
Further search for the page returned no result as the account which the IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu uses for live broadcasts and some times to issue orders to the ESN has become invisible.
Meanwhile, Kanu has disclosed that the IPOB’s Eastern Security Network (ESN) will commence the full enforcement of the Southeast anti-grazing law in less than two weeks.
This is not the first time Facebook is pulling down accounts belonging to top political figures and activists across the globe over alleged violation of their Community’s guidelines.
In January, the social media giant suspended an account belonging to former United States president Donald Trump over persistent posts alleging election fraud and for allegedly calling for violence in the U.S. Capitol.
The deletion of Nnamdi Kanu’s official Facebook account has been met with mixed reaction with many users alleging a clampdown on dissenting voices and infringement of people’s rights to freedom of speech.
