Nigeria Suspends Twitter After President Buhari's Posts Were Removed

A statement from the government cites "the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria's corporate existence."

Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

The government of Nigeria has suspended the operations of Twitter within the country, as was announced today by the The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.

The decision comes two days after Twitter "removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists," Reuters reports.

The new statement, made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, could see the government preventing Nigerians from using Twitter all together.

Below is the full statement from the Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Information and Culture:

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 (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.

Two days ago, Twitter deleted a post from President Buhari's official account that "referred to the 1967-70 Nigerian Civil War and to treating 'those misbehaving today' in 'the language they will understand,'" BBC reports.

See the tweets from the Nigerian government and some reactions below.

The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria.
— Fed Min of Info & Cu (@Fed Min of Info & Cu) 1622821987

Nigeria has suspended Twitter indefinitely.\n\nThough we don't yet know what that means, it's not the first time that the country's government has attempted to regulate social media.\n\n@briticoyemo explains the Social Media Bill, which has many Nigerians concerned.pic.twitter.com/69BBS7XTpF
— BBC News Africa (@BBC News Africa) 1622827502

Announcing the suspension of twitter operations in Nigeria on twitter has to be the craziest thing I\u2019ve seen in a while.https://twitter.com/fmicnigeria/status/1400843062641717249\u00a0\u2026
— PRAIZ \u2b50\ufe0f (@PRAIZ \u2b50\ufe0f) 1622823944

The real news is not the government suspension of Twitter\u2019s operations in Nigeria, it\u2019s that the government wants to start LICENSING SOCIAL MEDIA & OTT OPERATIONS IN NIGERIA. The regulation of social media is the real aim of all of this. It\u2019s right there in the Ministry\u2019s tweet.
— Tola (@Tola) 1622830564

Why Nigeria de always focus on wetin no important, wetin be Twitter now wey dem wan ban when real issues de? Wetin de always worry awa leaders?
— Ric Hassani (@Ric Hassani) 1622841782

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