The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria.
Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has directed NBC to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
The Ministry of Information announced Twitter’s suspension via it’s verified handle.
PRESS RELEASE
FG Suspends @Twitter Operations in Nigeria pic.twitter.com/7z5BQ0Mi3U
— Fed Min of Info & Cu (@FMICNigeria) June 4, 2021
The statement reads;
“The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, 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 l Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.”
The suspension comes days after Twitter deleted a tweet from President Muhammadu Buhari’s official account.
The tweet had referenced the Nigerian civil war as the President threated to treat Nigerians “misbehaving” in “the language they understand”.
It sparked reactions from many Nigerians who interpreted the statement as a threat to commit human rights violations.
Former presidential candidate Kingsley Moghalu said Buhari’s threat “is not the kind of word he should say as the president.”
Buhari made the threat after receiving security reports from the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on the series of recent attacks on INEC facilities nationwide.
“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigeria Civil War,” the tweet said.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
A video of Buhari making the remark was also deleted by Twitter from the official Presidency account on Thursday.
“This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules. Learn more,” Twitter said.
