Nigerian Government Suspends Twitter in Nigeria

Following the deletion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet by Twitter for violating its community policy, the Nigerian government has decided to place a suspension ban on the activities of the microblogging platform.

The Ministry of Information and Culture made the statement on Friday via a tweet on the official handle of the Ministry signed off by the media aide of the Minister, Segun Adeyemi. This announcement intends to ensure that telecoms in the country prevents Nigerians and other foreign residents in Nigeria from using this platform which has been used for many advocacy causes including the #EndSARS protests amongst others.

According to Mr Adeyemi, the ban is due to the “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

Prior to the statement, Mr Adeyemi’s principal, Lai Muhammed questioned the intent of Twitter due to what he calls “their bias”.

Read the full statement below:

PRESS RELEASE

FG Suspends Twitter’s Operations in Nigeria

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.

Segun Adeyemi
Special Assistant To The President (Media)
Office of the Minister of Information and Culture
Abuja. (4 June 2021)

As at the time of filing this report, “Twitter in Nigeria” was trending in the Technology trends category on Twitter with citizens venting their dismay in the decision of the government through moe the 112k tweets.

Meanwhile, a non profit advocacy group in Nigeria, SERAP has also announced that they will sue the government authorities for the “illegal indefinite suspension of Twitter in Nigeria”