For more than 10 years, I invested in building a LinkedIn community of over 21,000 connections as a Premium member.

This week, my account was permanently restricted after it was repeatedly reported following my posts and commentary on Nigeria's Digital Switch Over (DSO) programme. I asked LinkedIn to tell me exactly which post, statement or action breached its policies. I asked for evidence. I asked for validation. None was provided. Do I regret losing 21,000 connections? Not really.

Platforms come and go. Principles do not. If asking questions about transparency, accountability, integrity in governance and public procurement is enough to make people try to silence you, then perhaps the questions are more important than ever.

The DSO is a public project. Public projects should attract public scrutiny. Citizens have every right to ask how decisions are made, how public funds are spent, and whether those entrusted with delivering national programmes are acting in the public interest. Attempts to suppress those conversations do not strengthen democracy. They weaken it.

I will continue to ask difficult questions wherever I have a platform to do so. Accountability should never depend on whether those being questioned are comfortable with the questions. If anything, this experience has reinforced my belief that transparency is not optional. It is essential.