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.
The minister cited alleged “persistent use of the platform for activities that are
capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”
The minister also said 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.
Twitter had on Tuesday, removed a post by President Muhammadu Buhari for violating its rules.
Buhari had while reacting to the attack on government facilities in the South east threatened to “treat them in the language they understand”.
Buhari’s post on Twitter read:
“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. “Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
Twitter had deleted the post saying, it was in violation of the its rules.
While reacting to Twitter’s action, the information minister had accused the social media platform of double standards in handling the issue.
Mohammed, also accused the social media giant of bias and supporting the looting and destruction of public and private properties during the #EndSARS protest in November 2020.
“Twitter may have its own rules, it’s not the universal rule. If Mr. President, anywhere in the world feels very bad and concern about a situation, he is free to express such views,” Mohammed had said.