22nd June, 2021
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the composition of the Federal Government’s Team to engage with Twitter over the recent suspension of its operations in Nigeria.
The approval was announced in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who would chair the team.
The statement was made available to newsmen by Mr Segun Adeyemi, Special Assistant to the President (Media) in the office of the Minister of Information and Culture.
Mohammed said the team also comprised the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), Ministers of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami and Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
Others are Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN) as well as other relevant government agencies.
Mohammed said Twitter wrote to Buhari seeking to engage with the Federal Government with a view to charting a way forward, following the indefinite suspension of its operations in Nigeria.
Twitter’s operation was suspended indefinitely by the government because of alleged activities that were capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
Many Nigerians believed the knee-jerk action on 5 June was taken because the micro-blogging platform deleted Buhari’s tweets for violating its codes.
Many Nigerians and western nations also condemned the action.
Already 177 Nigerians, along with SERAP, have sued the Nigerian government at ECOWAS Court of Justice, arguing that the ban infringes on the rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression.
Another suit is before an Abuja court over the directive to broadcast stations to suspend their Twitter accounts.