Nigeria’s Federal Government Suspends Twitter Operations In Nigeria
The Federal government of Nigeria in a statement released on the 4th of June 2021 has suspended Twitter operations in Nigeria. This is following Twitter’s ban on the sitting president’s “genocidal” tweet. On the 1st of June 2021, Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria tweeted:
His tweet was met with anger and derision from Igbos (who were victims of mass killings during the Civil War) and the general populace. Nigerians reported his tweet en masse and called for his suspension from the app. The tweet has long since been deleted but the sitting President is yet to be suspended from Twitter.
Lai Mohammed, the Nigerian Minister for Education in a press briefing, expressed his view on the matter. His words give context to the reasons behind the recent decision of the Federal Government:
“The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very very suspect. Has Twitter deleted the violent tweets that Nnamdi Kanu (IPOB leader) has been sending? The same Twitter, during the EndSars program, was funding EndSars protesters. They were the first to close down the account of the Former president of the U.S, Trump. When people were burning Police Stations and killing PoliceMen during EndSars, for Twitter it was about the right to protest.
When a similar thing happened in the Capitol, it became an insurrection. We are not going to be fooled by anybody. We have a country to rule and we will rule it to the best of our ability.”
Lai Mohammed, (2021)
The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture (@FMICNigeria) announced the decision of suspension in a few tweets.
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 Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
Nigerians on Twitter state their grievances:
Banning @Twitter violates S. 22 & 39 of the 1999 Constitution. Twitter seems to be the only medium through which we hold the reckless regime of Buhari responsible. We will resist the attempts to ban Twitter in Nigeria.
Festus Ogun
(@mrfestusogun)
“Let me understand;
So for removing a tweet that threatened genocide against a people, the Buhari govt decided to suspend the operations of @Twitter in Nigeria? So the President isn’t sorry about the unfortunate tweet?”
Henry Shield
(@henryshield)
“Federal Government suspends Twitter in Nigeria. Now I see why Jack chose to place the Headquarter in Ghana instead of Nigeria, A country where the leaders don’t practice democracy? Jack successfully dodged a bullet.”
Shola
(@thedopejayy)
“FG has suspended Twitter in Nigeria. Lai Mohammed has directed the NBC to block access to Twitter in Nigeria.
Jack bruised their ego big time. Full-blown dictatorship, Social Media Gag is finally here. They might try to suspend the Constitution. So get ready to hit the streets.”
NEFERTITI
(@firstladyship)
“As FG has suspended Twitter in Nigeria, The best thing is for Jack to remove verifications from all government officials and suspend all of them because they have been using Twitter to make all their announcements since 😂😂.
This drama go sweet with Bigi Tropical and Kulikuli😁”
Salman
(@NotJustSalmanPR)
“You can suspend Twitter in Nigeria in a week, but you can’t solve insecurity, electricity issues, health, education, roads since 1960?. Shameless!!!!!!”
MONITORING_SPIRIT
@Sonjoe_kutuh
“First, the government banned Crypto it didn’t work for them so they banned banks from processing crypto transaction 😂, now they’ve banned Twitter in Nigeria but we’re still tweeting, clown government 🤡”
Dehkunle Kwame
(@Dehkunle)
Even though the Federal Government has announced the suspension of the app, Nigerians are at this moment navigating effortlessly through TwitterNG. As ever-resourceful people, they have expressed their readiness to use VPN networks as soon as the ban is fully in place. It seems like just another day for Nigerians to suffer and smile, looking over their shoulders for what’s next.
All images are gotten from twitter.com
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