‘Indefinitely suspended’: Nigeria announces Twitter ban… on Twitter
Nigeria’s government has announced it is suspending Twitter’s presence in the country. Ironically, the pronouncement was made on Twitter, in a tweet that has since been deleted.
Now the African nation’s government is being mocked for declaring the ban on Twitter’s very own platform.
The country’s Information and Culture Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed, cited Twitter’s supposed “undermining” of its “corporate existence.”
“The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria,” Lai Mohammed said.
“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”
Nigeria’s Information and Culture Ministry
“The Minister said the Federal Government has also directed the National Broadcasting l Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria,” the government further added.
Nigerian president’s Twitter comment sparks outrage
The decision is likely to draw the ire of free speech advocates in Nigeria – it also comes just days after the social media giant deleted a controversial tweet made by President Muhammadu Buhari about a secessionist movement.
The comment has sparked some backlash in the African nation, with many labelling it as offensive.
“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,” Buhari wrote in the now-deleted tweet.
Buhari was referring to the 1967-70 civil war in the southeastern Biafra region that led to as many as three million people dead, mostly from the Igbo tribe in the eastern part of the country between.
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