June 09, (THEWILL)- The United States of America has again asked the Federal Government to reverse its decision suspending citizens’ access and use of Twitter in Nigeria.
The message was conveyed by a top American official and senior Diplomat, who is the current administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power.
Power, in a tweet on her verified handle on Wednesday, wrote, “There are nearly 40 million Twitter users in #Nigeria, and the country is home to Africa’s largest tech hub.
“This suspension is nothing more than state-sanctioned denial of free speech and should be reversed immediately. #KeepItOn.”
THEWILL reports that the Federal Government through the office of the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
Soon after, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, criminalised anyone accessing the microblogging site through any other means, alrhough he personally logged on to Twitter via VPN to deactivate his account on Tuesday.
Malami had himself been charged with carrying out the regime’s threat to prosecute anyone who accessed the platform through alternative means, following the government’s instructions to telecommunications companies to block the popular route.
Prominent Nigerians, including the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Senator Shehu Sani, and Deeper Life Founder, Pastor Kumuyi, had continued to Tweet, saying the ban was against Free Speech and Fundamental Human Rights.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Projects and 176 Concerned Nigerians had on Tuesday filed a suit against the government in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court, urging it to unban the site.
Twitter fell out favour with the regime after the President tweeted that many of those misbehaving in the country were too young and did not witness the gruesomeness of Nigeria’s 1967-70 war, saying he would “treat them in the language they would understand.”
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