ABUJA — The Federal Government on Friday announced the indefinite suspension of the operation of micro-blogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria.
The Minister of Information and Culture made the announcement in a press release issued by his office in Abuja.
The statement which was signed by the spokesperson of the Ministry, Segun Adeyemi, cited the consistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining the corporate existence of Nigeria.
The release also stated that the Federal Government has directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria
It is not yet clear how the suspension will work but the Twitter website can still be access from Lagos as of Friday evening, 11pm.
Also, the Ministry published its statement on the Twitter platform.
The suspension came days after the social media giant deleted a tweet from the official account of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari tweet had referenced the Nigerian Civil War as the President threatened to treat Nigerians “misbehaving” in “the language they understand”.
Many Nigerians have reacted and interpreted the statement as a threat to commit human rights violations.
West African Pilots reported that former Presidential candidate, Kingsley Moghalu, who said Buhari’s threat “is not the kind of word he should say as the president.”
The President made the threat after receiving a security report from the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the series of recent attacks on INEC facilities across the country.
“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.”
On Thursday, Twitter also deleted a video of President Buhari making the remark on the official Presidency account.
“This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rule. Learn more,” Twitter said.
In his reaction to the deletion, Lai Mohammed held a press conference on Wednesday at the State House in Abuja.
The Minister accused the micro-blogging of being impartial in its decision and said the activities of the social media company were suspicious.
“We have a country to rule and we will do so to the best of our ability. Twitter’s mission in Nigeria is very suspect, they have an agenda,” he said.
“The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious. Has Twitter deleted the violent tweets that Nnamdi Kanu has been sending? Has it? The same Twitter during the ENDSARS protests that were funding ENDSARS protesters, it was the first to close the account of the former president of the US, Trump.
“And you see when people were burning police stations and killing policemen in Nigeria during ENDSARS, for Twitter, it was about the right to protest. But when a similar thing happened on the Capitol, it became insurrection.”
He alleged that Twitter had displayed bias during the #E ndSARS protest which led to the shooting and destruction of both the private and government property.
Muhammed asked what rule President Buhari had violated to warrant his tweet being deleted.
“Twitter may have its own rules, it’s not the universal rule,” he said. “If Mr. President, anywhere in the world feels very bad and concerned about a situation, he is free to express such views. Now, we should stop comparing apples with oranges.
“If an organization is proscribed, it is different from any other which is not proscribed. Two, any organization that gives directives to its members, to attack police stations, to kill policemen, to attack correctional centers, to kill warders, and you are now saying that Mr. President does not have the right to express his dismay and anger about that?
“We are the ones guilty of double standards. I don’t see anywhere in the world where an organization, a person will stay somewhere outside Nigeria and will direct his members to attack the symbols of authority, the police, the military, especially when that organization has been proscribed. By whatever name, you can’t justify giving orders to kill policemen or to kill anybody you do not agree with.”
