President Donald Trump signs executive order

On Thursday, the President of the United States of America, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to limit the broad legal protection that federal law currently provides to social-media and other online platforms.

This move was probably triggered by the occurrence few days ago when Twitter called two of his tweets "potentially misleading". 

Speaking from the Oval Office ahead of signing the order, Trump accused Twitter of acting as an editor “with a viewpoint” and described the platform’s fact-check of his tweets as “political activism”. 

He said that he would delete his Twitter account “in a heartbeat” if he felt the news media were fair to him. He said, 

“We’re here today to defend free speech from one of the greatest dangers. 

A small handful of social media monopolies controls a vast portion of all public and private communications in the United States. 

They've had unchecked power to censor, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter, virtually any form of communication between private citizens and large public audiences."

Trump said that if his lawyers could find a way to legally shut down Twitter, “I would do it.”

The order escalates an already heated fight over how big social-media platforms handle politically charged content. 

The companies long resisted stronger moderation efforts and have struggled to address growing pressure to combat the proliferation of misinformation and other problematic content in a way that avoids fueling criticism that they are inconsistent, biased or stifling free expression.

The executive order marks the Trump administration’s most aggressive effort against social-media companies. 

The President has threatened for years to counteract what he and many conservatives see as a systemic bias against their political positions on social media. 

His campaign on Thursday sent supporters an email seeking to raise money off the President’s feud with Twitter.

State governors are angry with Buhari

A handful of governors are furious with President Muhammadu Buhari for granting financial autonomy to the legislative and judicial arms of government in the 36 states of the federation, and are spoiling for showdown discussions.

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020, at exactly 2pm, the governors will meet via teleconference to take a common position and weigh their options.

On Friday, May 22, 2020, President Buhari signed Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 into law.

“Based on the power vested in me under Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), I, today, signed into law Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 for the implementation of Financial Autonomy of State Legislature and State Judiciary," the president said.

The executive order means that the legislative and judicial arms of government across the 36 states will no longer be tied to the apron strings of powerful governors; and will receive their financial allocations straight from the center.

Buhari signs executive order implementing financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday May 22, signed an executive order implementing financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary into law.

The Nigerian leader made the announcement in series of tweets shared on Friday. It read :

"Based on the power vested in me under Section 5 of the 1999 constitution (as Amended), I, today, signed into law Executive Order 10 of 2020 for the implementation of financial autonomy of state legislature and judiciary. This administration will continue to do everything to strengthen the principles and practice of democracy and democratic governance in Nigeria."

Imo State Governor signs an executive order

The Imo State Governor, Sen. Hope Uzodimma have signed an Executive order reducing the Right of Way (ROW) of telecommunication companies in the state.

The executive order No. 002, 2020 will see the right of way of telecoms operators in the state slashed from N4500 to N145 per meter as stipulated by a federal government policy.

The development is contained in a statement signed by the State Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba and made available to DAILY POST.

The Commissioner explained that the reduction was a manifestation of the state government’s determination to spur the telecommunication companies to further invest in broadband infrastructure and trigger ancillary on-line services, especially in the field of education.

The Imo State government according to the statement said it hopes the drastic reduction from N4500 of the broadband ROW to N145 per line meter of fibre, “will accelerate the deployment of affordable, and reliable modern high speed connectivity in the state”.

The executive order urged telecommunication companies to note that the state plays host to a vibrant youthful demography located in many tertiary institutions, who form the bulk of the end users of their products.