The Nigerian government says it has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in the country.

This comes after Twitter deleted a controversial post by President Muhammadu Buhari referencing the country’s civil war, and threatening to treat those attacking government buildings “with the language they understand”.

“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” he wrote on Tuesday.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension of Twitter, citing the alleged use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.

According to the statement signed by Special Assistant To The President, Segun Adeyemi, the minister said the Federal Government has also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all social media operations in Nigeria.

Mr Mohammed had earlier claimed the social media site’s response to Nigeria was “suspect”.

Mr Mohammed has for long championed the call for regulation of social media in the country, claiming the platforms are used to spew hate.

Read statement below

PRESS RELEASE

FG Suspends Twitter’s Operations in Nigeria

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

credit: premiumtimes