House of Representatives reject motion to lift Twitter ban

The House of Representatives has rejected the motion to lift the Twitter ban at the consideration of the report by the committee mandated to investigate the ban on Thursday.

Femi Gbajabiamila, the speaker of the House, on June 8, directed House committees on Information, ICT, Intelligence, Justice and Orientation to investigate the suspension of Twitter by the Buhari regime.

At the consideration of the report, the Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Toby Okechukwu, suggested an amendment to one of the recommendations, which was seconded by another member.

He suggested that “the Federal Government should take into cognizance the negative effect of the Twitter suspension on Nigerians who depend on the platform for their livelihood,” and lift the suspension.

However, the motion was rejected by the majority of the House when put to vote, Vanguard reports.

Recall that Mr Gbajabiamila shut down a point of order seeking to lobby the executive arm of government to lift the twitter ban on the microblogging site, pending when the assigned committee looking into the ban, concludes its investigation.

Representative Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers), who gave the point of order also argued that the ban infringed on the rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression.

Shutting down the point of order, Mr Gbajabiamila said that a committee had already been set up by the House to investigate the matter, adding that it was against section six of the House rules to revisit a motion that had already been deliberated upon.