The center for Information technology and development (CITAD) on Saturday swiftly inundated Twitter to express its shock and outrage after the government announced the indefinite suspension of the tech giant’s operations in the country.
The Executive Director of CITAD, Kano State, Alhaji Yunasa Zakari Ya’u made this known during a press briefing, saying the action to suspend Twitter in Nigeria, is unconstitutional, Violating citizens’ right to freedom of expression, and a move to control all social media in the country.
He called the federal government to immediately reverse the unlawful suspension and other plans to gag the media, repress the civic space, and undermine Nigerians’ human rights.
The CITAD response on the development was made 24 hours after Twitter had temporarily suspended the account of President Muhammadu Buhari for violating the social media company’s “abusive” behavior policy.
Daily News 24 recalled that Buhari’s account was put on hold for 12 hours after he threatened punishment for regional secessionists blamed for attacks on government buildings and alleged national insecurity.
Zakari added that this action clearly shows the lack of understanding of the state of technology in Nigeria.
“Many countries have unsuccessfully tried to block social media access for their citizens, but the increasing number of by-pass technologies means that such action is fruitless and rather a drain on the useful resource that could be used to support educating citizens on how to use the internet,” he added.
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.
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.
