Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari Friday rejected an appeal to unlock Twitter ban from his US counterpart President Joe Biden. Buhari instead adopted India’s Twitter rival Koo for government and agencies.
President Biden had condemned the ongoing Twitter suspension as “unduly restricting” people’s right to “report, gather, and disseminate opinions and information has no place in a democracy.”
Buhari however directed Nigeria Chief Law Officer, Abubakar Malami to immediately prosecute citizens accessing the microblogging platform via VPN.
The United States condemns the ongoing suspension of Twitter by the Nigerian government and subsequent threats to arrest and prosecute Nigerians who use Twitter.
See also: Presidency Suspends Twitter Operations in Nigeria
It added that “unduly restricting” people’s right to “report, gather, and disseminate opinions and information has no place in a democracy.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said 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.