The Nigerian government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. 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.
It will be recalled that Twitter had removed a post by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari for violating its rules.
The tweet referred to the 1967-70 Nigerian Civil War and to treating “those misbehaving today” in “the language they will understand”.
The tweet followed the rise in violence in south-eastern Nigeria, blaming the attacks on institutions on regional secessionists.
Reacting to the development earlier, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture described the action of Twitter as unfair and engaging in “double standards”.
The offensive tweet by Buhari on Tuesday reads: “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.”
However, a Twitter spokesperson said the post “was in violation of the Twitter Rules”.
GIK/APA