Nigeria’s government said Friday (June 4) it was suspending Twitterindefinitely in Africa’s most populous nation, a day after the companydeleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about asecessionist movement.
It was not immediately clear when the suspension would go into effect asusers could still access Twitter late Friday, and many said they wouldsimply use VPNs to maintain access to the platform.
Others mocked the government for using the platform to announce the action.“You’re using Twitter to suspend Twitter? Are you not mad?” one usertweeted in response.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed said Friday that government officialstook the step because the platform was being used for activities that arecapable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.? Mohammed criticizedTwitter for deleting the post. “The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is verysuspicious,” he said, adding that Twitter had in the past ignored‘inciting’ tweets against the Nigerian governmentlink.
Twitter deleted Buhari’s post on Wednesday, calling it abusive, after thepresident threatened suspected separatist militants in the southeast.
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More than 1 million people died during the 1967-1970 civil war that eruptedwhen secessionists sought to create an independent Biafra for the ethnicIgbo people. Buhari, an ethnic Fulani, was on the opposing side in the waragainst the Igbos.
In recent months, pro-Biafra separatists have been accused of attackingpolice and government buildings, and Buhari vowed to retaliate and treatthem in the language they understand.
