Nigeria’s Twitter ban prompts ridicule—and fear: Snuffing out free expression used to be pleasingly simple for autocrats. Back in 1984, when President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria first ran the country, as a military dictator, he simply arrested journalists and then decreed retroactively that any person who had published something that brought the government “ridicule or disrepute” was “guilty of an offence”. On June 4th the self-described “converted democrat” was at it again, suspending the local operations of Twitter, an American social-media service. Read the rest from The Economist...

NDC blasts Akufo-Addo, Bawumia for disregarding COVID-19 protocols at Sir John’s funeral: The National Democratic Congress, NDC, has chided President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for being part of the final funeral rites of the former CEO of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, that flouted the government’s existing COVID-19 protocols. The President, his vice, the Chief Justice, and other state officials filed past the remains of Sir John last week amidst blatant neglect of the COVID-19 safety protocols. This is in spite of the fact that the one-time NPP General Secretary died of COVID-19. Viral videos from the funeral showed many people crowded at the venue with a handful of them wearing facemasks. The number of people seen at the funeral were also far more than the expected 100 directed by the government as part of measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. Read the rest on modernghana...