By Adesina Soyooye
On the day the Regional Court, ECOWAS Court, stopped the Federal Government of Nigeria from prosecuting Twitter users, it emerged that President Muhammadu Buhari has set up a Team to dialogue with Twitter in order to reach an agreement on the spat between Nigeria and Twitter.
The Federal Government had fallen out with Twitter over the microblogging company’s guts to pull out a post by Buhari.
Twitter had taken down Buhari’s tweet where he threatened to deal ruthlessly with a section of the country.
The company, after thousands of petitions against the post, took it down, terming it a hate speech. Facebook, also did the same.
In retaliation, the FG banned Twitter from Nigeria, and threatened to prosecute any Nigerian who would circumvent the process and the ban, and use Twitter.
A number of Nigerians, called the Government’s bluff, including Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, and Pastor William Kumuyi of the Deeper life Ministry.
The Federal Government’s action attracted condemnation within and outside the country, including from US, United Kingdom and the European Union. They saw it as an attack on freedom of speech.
Since then, the FG has accused Twitter of being pro-IPOB and and being a promoter of the #EndSARS. It said the Company was interested in the destabilization of Nigeria.
Both the FG and Twitter had always said they were open to a dialogue to resolve the issues.
On Tuesday, the FG named a high powered team to dialogue with Twitter.
A statement signed by Segun Adeyemi, Special Assistant to the President(Media), in the office of the Minister for Information and Culture, titled:
Buhari Approves FG’s Team To Engage With Twitter Over Suspension , reads:
“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the composition of the Federal
Government’s Team to engage with Twitter over the recent suspension of
the operations of the microblogging and social networking service in
Nigeria.
“The approval was announced in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday by the
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who will
chair the team.
“The Federal Government’s team also comprises the Attorney General of
the Federation and Honourable Minister of Justice, Honourable Minister
of Communications and Digital Economy, Honourable Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Honourable Minister
of State for Labour and Employment as well as other relevant
government agencies.
“Following the indefinite suspension of its operations in Nigeria, for
activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate
existence, Twitter wrote to President Buhari seeking to engage with
the Federal Government over the suspension, with a view to charting a
path forward.”
Not a few Nigerians have criticised the number of high profile members that made up the Nigerian team. They say it is an overkill.
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