Kanyi Okeke
. Twitter suspended in Nigeria
The Federal Government of Nigeria has suspended indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking site, Twitter, in Nigeria.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
The Minister said the Federal Government has also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
Segun Adeyemi
Special Assistant To The President (Media)
Office of the Minister of Information and Culture
Abuja
4 June 2021
This latest development comes just two days after Twitter deleted President Buhari’s tweet which threatened to deal with “pro-Biafran secessionist” in “the language they will understand”.
Twitter said the offensive tweet violated the social media company’s abusive behavior policy, leading to a 12-hour suspension of President Buhari’s account.
Reacting to the development on Thursday, Adamu Garba said Twitter has no right to take down President Buhari’s tweet, adding that the micro-blogging site should be banned in Nigeria.
“Twitter has no right to infuse into our local political affairs. It’s a company not a government,” he tweeted.
“By removing our democratically elected President’s speech to the people of Nigeria, Twitter needs to be shut down from Nigeria’s internet space. Twitter needs to get out of Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, Nigerians are making fun of Buhari for announcing the ban of Twitter on Twitter.
In other news, Adamu Garba had in 2020 instituted a $1 billion lawsuit against Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, over his alleged role in the #EndSARS protests which led to violence and loss of lives in some parts of the country.
