Twitter wants ban lifted, Reps say suspension dictatorial, ill-timed
The micro-blogging and social media platform, Twitter, has written the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), seeking restoration of its operations in Nigeria.
The Special Assistant to the Minister of Information and Culture, Segun Adeyemi, who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, also said the President had constituted a team to engage with Twitter on the recent suspension of its operations.
These came to fore as members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday described the suspension of Twitter operations as ill-timed and dictatorial.
Recall that the Federal Government had on June 4 through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, suspended Twitter operations on the grounds that the platform was undermining the country’s corporate existence.
The following day, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, directed the Director of Public Prosecution in his ministry to begin the process of prosecuting violators of the suspension order.
The Federal Government’s action was heavily criticised by groups and nations including the Nigerian Bar Association, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Information and Culture, in a statement titled, “Twitter writes President Buhari seeking restoration of access in Nigeria,” said the President had approved negotiations with Twitter.
According to the statement, the negotiations will be led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mohammed.
Other members of the team are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Malami; the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo.
The ministry also disclosed that the social platform had written the Federal Government seeking negotiations on the suspension of its operations.
“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,” it stated.
Action based on constitution, national security – FG
As the Federal Government set to begin negotiations with Twitter, the executive arm of government and some members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday disagreed over the suspension.
The House of Representatives’ committees on communications; justice; information and culture; and national security and intelligence, grilled Mohammed over the government action. Punch
