President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday ordered the ban of Twitter, a global social media platform, from operating in Nigeria with immediate effect. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
in a statement in Abuja declared that the Federal Government has suspended Twitter operations in Nigeria indefinitely.
Lai Mohammed in the statement, by the Ministry’s Public Affairs Director, Segun Adeyemi, stated that the suspension has become necessary because of the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
The Information Minister maintained 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.
The suspension of twitter in Nigeria was made few days after Twitter deleted a tweet from President Muhammadu Buhari’s official account which was considered to have contravened community rules.
The tweet had a connotation of the Nigerian civil war in the statement of President Buhari who threatened to treat Nigerians “misbehaving” in “the language they understand”.
President Buhari threatened military action when he hosted the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at the State House, Abuja, and was briefed of the serial attacks and destruction of INEC offices in several parts of the country.
President Buhari had threatened in the tweet: “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.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
Also, the president’s video making the statement was 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 had explained.
Meanwhile, many Nigerians are still enjoying twitter services across the country despite the immediate indefinite suspension by the Nigerian government.