FG suspends Twitter operations in Nigeria

The Federal Government has announced the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria, which it says is indefinite.

Twitter on Tuesday deleted a post by President Muhammadu Buhari and suspended his account for 12 hours.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement issued on Friday.

The suspension of the social networking service was also shared on the Twitter handle of the Federal Ministry of Information.

The minister cited “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence as a reason for the suspension.

Mohammed on Tuesday a reaction to the Twitter’s deletion of Buhari’s civil war comments had said the action of Twitter management was suspect, recalling that the leader of the proscribed IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, had continued to make inciting statements against the Nigerian government without any penalty from the microblogging and social networking platform.