Breaking: President Buhari Finally Lifts Ban on Twitter, Gives Reasons
- President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the conditional lifting of the ban on the operations of the microblogging site, Twitter
- The president made the announcement during his nationwide broadcast to commemorate the 61st independence anniversary of Nigeria
- Buhari, however, lamented that some Twitter users have misused the platform to organise and propagate fake news
Aso-Rock, Abuja - Barely four months after the suspension of the operations of the microblogging site, Twitter, in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, October 1, said he had directed a conditional lifting of the ban.
Legit.ng reports that the president disclosed this in his nationwide broadcast to Nigerians to mark the nation’s 61st independence.
Buhari described social media as a very useful platform but regretted that some users have misused the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments.
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He said:
“Social media is a very useful platform that has enabled millions of Nigerians to connect with loved ones, promote their businesses, socialise, and access news and other information.
“However, recent events have shown that the platform is not just an innocuous platform for information dissemination. Rather some users have misused the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments.
“Following the suspension of Twitter operations, Twitter Inc. reached out to the Federal Government of Nigeria to resolve the impasse. Subsequently, I constituted a Presidential Committee to engage Twitter to explore the possibility of resolving the issue.
The president added that the committee, along with its technical team, engaged with Twitter and addressed a number of key issues, saying that these include national security and cohesion; registration, physical presence and representation; fair taxation; dispute resolution; and local content.
He noted:
“Following the extensive engagements, the issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements.
“As a country, we are committed to ensuring that digital companies use their platform to enhance the lives of our citizens, respect Nigeria’s sovereignty, cultural values and promote online safety.”
Nigerians react as President Buhari calls for unity as the country clocks 61
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that following President Muhammadu Buhari's call for unity in the country, many Nigerians took to social media to react to his statement.
It was reported that while many people blamed him for the current state of unity in the country which is at its lowest point, others praised him for doing a good job to bring the country together.
A Facebook user, Mathew Obisesan, said there cannot be independence without freedom of speech, justice, equal right, protection of lives and property of the people by the state as the core essence for the social contract and sustainable growth.
Source: Legit.ng
