Just In: Buhari Finally Makes U-turn, Says Twitter Ban Is Temporary

Following national criticism, President Muhammadu Buhari reversed his position on the indefinite ban on Twitter in Nigeria on Saturday night, stating that the restriction is just temporary.

Following the removal of Mr Buhari’s warning to repeat civil war carnage in south eastern Nigeria from the microblogging site Twitter, Lai Mohammed declared on Friday that Twitter in Nigeria had been suspended indefinitely.

Mr Mohammed’s spokesman, Segun Adeyemi, stated, “The Federal Government has halted, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking site, Twitter, in Nigeria.”

Nigerians from all walks of life have continued to protest the action since the contentious announcement. Sweden’s, Canada’s, the United States’, and the United Kingdom’s diplomatic missions, as well as Amnesty International, have all condemned the move and demanded for it to be reversed.

The restriction on Twitter, according to local and international rights organizations, is an infringement on Nigerians’ freedom of expression.

Mr Buhari’s spokeswoman, Garba Shehu, has now said that the ban is only temporary, not forever, as Mr Mohammed had previously suggested.

Read the entire statement here:

Read full statement:

PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT ON TWITTER SUSPENSION IN NIGERI

The temporary suspension of Twitter is not just a response to the removal of the President’s post. There has been a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real world violent consequences. All the while, the company has escaped accountability.

Nevertheless, the removal of President Buhari’s tweet was disappointing. The censoring seemed based on a misunderstanding of the challenges Nigeria faces today.

The President in his address at the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA in 2019 said “the world was shocked and startled by the massacre in New Zealand by a lone gunman taking the lives of 50 worshippers.”

This and similar crimes which have been fueled by social media networks risk seeping into the fabric of an emerging digital culture.
Major tech companies must be alive to their responsibilities. They cannot be allowed to continue to facilitate the spread of religious, racist, xenophobic and false messages capable of inciting whole communities against each other, leading to loss of many lives. This could tear some countries apart.

President Buhari has therefore been warning against social media’s disruptive and divisive influences and the government’s action is not a knee-jerk reaction to Twitter’s preposterous deletion of his tweet which should have been read in full.

The tweet was not a threat, but a statement of fact.

A terrorist organisation (IPOB) poses a significant threat to the safety and security of Nigerian citizens.

When the President said that they will be treated “in a language they understand,” he merely reiterated that their force shall be met with force. It is a basic principle of security services response world over.

This is not promotion of hate, but a pledge to uphold citizens’ right to freedom from harm. The government cannot be expected to capitulate to terrorists.

IPOB is proscribed under Nigerian law. Its members murder innocent Nigerians. They kill policemen and set government property on fire. Now, they have amassed a substantial stockpile of weapons and bombs across the country.

Twitter does not seem to appreciate the national trauma of our country’s civil war. This government shall not allow a recurrence of that tragedy.

Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media & Publicity)

June 5, 2021