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Discordant tunes as govt claims Nigerians can tweet despite ban

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The fallout over the ban on Twitter services in Nigeria continues as the Federal Government on Thursday disclosed to a Federal High Court in Lagos that it has not stopped Nigerians from using the social media platform.

This was contained in a counter-affidavit filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami on behalf of the Federal Government, in response to an originating motion filed by human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that the Nigerian government mandated the ban on Twitter services on June 4, 2021, barely two days after the social media platform deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Also, Malami in June, had denied threatening to prosecute Nigerians still tweeting on the microblogging site.

Malami, who had earlier issued the prosecution threat against Nigerians defying the Nigerian government’s ban on Twitter, made a dramatic turn about in an interview with Vanguard newspaper.

His denial came days after he unknowingly exposed himself in a Facebook post which showed he too had bypassed the Twitter ban like many other Nigerians.

“It is within their guaranteed fundamental right to tweet from anywhere in the world. Nigeria, being a democratic nation, cannot stop its citizens from exercising their rights of freedom of expression,” he said.

However, many Nigerians have bypassed the Twitter suspension by using Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Read also: Twitter revenue rises by 74% as Nigeria loses N2.33tn over ban

In the fundamental human rights suit marked FHC/L/CS/542/2021, Effiong had asked the court to declare as illegal the threat of criminal prosecution by Malami and Lai Mohammed against Nigerians who ‘violate’ the suspension or ban of Twitter, despite the absence of any written law.

However, in the counter-affidavit filed by Mr Ilop Lawrence on behalf of the Federal Government and the AGF, it was stated that the suspension of Twitter was not an abuse of human rights because Nigerians were still using Twitter despite the suspension.

It read in part, “The applicant (Effiong) and the class he seeks to represent can still operate those Twitter accounts from anywhere in the world and even from Nigeria. Nigerians are still tweeting, even at this moment as the ban on Twitter is not aimed at intimidating Nigerians or an infringement on the rights of Nigerians to express their opinion.

“The respondents (Federal Government and AGF) have never stopped the applicant (Effiong) and the class of persons he seeks to represent from voicing their opinions to access government information and offer criticism where necessary.”

The FG further revealed that the ban will be lifted once Twitter registers with the NBC and the Corporate Affairs Commission.

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