By James Orji
President Muhammadu Buhari has lifted the ban on Twitter seven months after his government suspended the operations of the microblogging site in Nigeria.
In June 2021, the administration suspended the social media site accusing it of supporting terrorism. But many critics of the government said then that the suspension was in retaliation of the deletion of President Buhari’s tweet which the platform said infringed on its rules.
President Buhari had while reacting to the insecurity in the south east, said his administration “will treat them in the language they understand.”
Buhari had tweeted that, “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.”
The president tweet did not go down well with some persons who reported the tweet to twitter who deleted the tweet on the basis that “this Tweet violated the Twitter Rules”.
In a statement issued by the Chairman Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement and Director-General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, on Wednesday, the federal government said the ban on twitter has been lifted effective midnight of January 13, 222.
According to the statement, “the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) directs me to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12am tonight, 13th January 2022.
“The approval was given following a memo written to the President by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim,” the statement added.
Announcing the ban on June 4, last year, the minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said the federal government took the decision because the micro blogging site has been undermining peace and security in the country.
Mohammed said then that: “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 to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.”
“The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria,” Mohammed said.
