Twitter in Nigeria is the number one trending topic in the Nigerian Twitter street, a few hours after the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari announced the indefinite suspension of the social media App. in the country.
The move by the Nigerian Government comes a two days after the social media giant took down some of the tweets of the President, which they said violates their rules.
Facebook also did the same thing to the post of the President. The move by the social media giants was welcomed and celebrated by Nigerians.
Twitter had on Wednesday took down a post by President Muhammadu Buhari threatening punishment against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) a separatist organization blamed for attacks on government buildings in the South East and South-South region.
The social media firm said Buhari’s tweet, referring to the 1967-70 civil war in the old Eastern Biafra region that killed 1 million people, violated its “abusive behaviour” policy leading to a 12-hour suspension of his account.
Buhari tweeted on Tuesday that many people misbehaving today were too young to remember the deaths and destruction from the civil war.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” he warned in the tweet that was taken down.
The Presidency embarrassed by the move by Twitter, decided to hit back with a suspension, it announced on Friday 4th June 2021.
The President had through 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 l Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
Nigeria is rumoured to have over 40million Twitter users, which is one of the highest in the world, were quick to take to their different handles to trend Twitter in Nigeria to condemn the move.
Some in the trend Twitter in Nigeria, see the move as the Government taking the back door to sign the social media bill that has been rejected several times by Nigerians and some lawmakers.
Some of the reactions on the Twitter in Nigeria reads:
@renoomokri: The suspension of the activities of @Twitter in Nigeria by the
@MBuhari administration should be ignored by @Jack, The Buhari government has no means to effect the suspension, and even members of the administration are still on Twitter.
@benmurraybruce:
Nigerians deserve their right to free speech. The Twitter ban in Nigeria is hasty and unnecessary. I hope the government sees its error and quickly corrects this goof.
@TundeTASH: The banning of Twitter in Nigeria will send a message to the tech ecosystem in Silicon Valley. This might also affect the “friendly place to do business’ indices.
@thedopejayy: Federal Government suspends Twitter in Nigeria. Now I see why Jack chose to place the Headquarter in Ghana instead of Nigeria, A country where the leaders don’t practice democracy?Jack successfully dodged a bullet.
The problem with this News of Federal Government banning Twitter in Nigeria is that they’ve given these Police Men another Avenue for extortion. “Park” “Open your Phone” “Oh you dey use Twitter, enter Van criminal”