Tinubu, Obi, Elumelu, Trump, Others Lost Twitter Verification Tick

At last, microblogging site, Twitter has made good its threat, and removed notable persons from its legacy verification tick.

Those affected are president-elect Bola Tinubu, Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi, Chairman of United Bank of Nigeria (UBA) Plc., group Tony Elumelu, and other notable Nigeria musicians, Nollywood artists and socialists.

Former United States of America (USA) president Donald Trump, was also not left out.

Twitter had for several months now, given indications that it would commercial its verification tick, which it valued at $8.

Twitter new owner, Elon Musk who spent $44 billion to acquire the platform, said, “Twitter Blue is an opt-in, paid subscription that adds a blue checkmark to your account and offers early access to select features, like Edit Tweet.

“Subscribe now with localised pricing starting at $8/month or $84/year in available countries to get the blue checkmark and early access to features.”

This, it was believed, was geared towards boosting its revenue.

About 300,000 Twitter users were believed to have been affected by the new policy.

Most celebrities view the new policy with circumspect. Twitter user, identified as @firstladyship, says, “Elon Musk has removed the legacy verification of over 400K notable persons. Peter Obi, Atiku, Tinubu, Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump lost their blue check marks. Is Elon from this planet? Only an alien can compel Heads of Government & Former Presidents to pay for Twitter Blue.”

Elumelu @TonyOElumelu, said “I woke up to see that my verification tick had disappeared. Wahala!”

Of course, supporters of LP candidate Peter Obi, did not expect him to pay the money. One of his supporters, @torty_mercy, twitted, “Make I hear Okwute pays for Twitter Blue $8 that you will give someone as a happy holiday gift, and the person will appreciate it greatly, Okwute will now give to Billionaire for blue tick??? We are allergic to spending money wrongly.”