Nigerians found using Twitter will be arrested and prosecuted

Nigeria “indefinitely suspended” Twitter ‘s operations in the country on Friday after the company deleted President Buhari’s tweet.

“The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria,”  The Ministry of Information and Culture said in a statement posted on Twitter.  

Nigeria is accusing Twitter of using its micro-blogging platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.

PRESS RELEASE

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FG Suspends @Twitter Operations in Nigeria pic.twitter.com/7z5BQ0Mi3U

— Fed Min of Info & Cu (@FMICNigeria) June 4, 2021

The Ministry went ahead and directed the National Broadcasting l Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.

And now, the government has ordered federal prosecutors to arrest and prosecute anyone found using the Twitter app after the ban took effect. This directive was issued by Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami in a statement.

‘’Malami directed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF) at the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, to swing into action and commence in earnest the process of prosecution of violators of the Federal Government De-activation of operations of Twitter in Nigeria,” the statement read.

Telecoms operators in Nigeria have already complied with a government directive to suspend access to Twitter. Some users in Nigeria were and are still able to bypass this ban through the use of a virtual private network (VPN). 

Responding to the ban, Twitter said “The announcement made by the Nigerian Government that they have suspended Twitter’s operations in Nigeria is deeply concerning,” 

“We’re investigating and will provide updates when we know more.”

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