Talks still ongoing with FG, no deal reached yet to lift ban - Twitter

The microblogging platform, Twitter has said is yet to reach an agreement with the Nigerian government for the unblocking of its services in Nigeria.

This comes after the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, that the ban will be lifted "in a matter of days".

The Nigerian government suspended indefinitely the services of Twitter on June 5 after the platform deleted tweets by President Buhari. In the tweets that were seen to be ethnic biased, the president said he will deal with Igbo youths “in the language they understand”.

The tweet was deemed genocidal as it referenced the onslaught of the Nigerian state against Biafrans during the civil war.

However, the Buhari-led administration said Twitter's actions threatened the country’s corporate existence.

Since then, Nigerians have had to access the site by bypassing the government’s obstruction via VPNs.

Attorney-General Abubakar Malami had earlier threatened to prosecute those who continue to use the platform but made a U-turn, saying only corporate entities were liable for prosecution.

Following the global condemnation of the Twitter ban in Nigeria as well as other diplomatic interventions, the Buhari regime set up a panel to negotiate terms upon which Twitter would be unbanned in Nigeria.

Twitter spokesperson in an email statement sent to Peoples Gazette on Wednesday said no deal had been agreed with the Nigerian government yet as talks were still ongoing.

“We recently met with the Nigerian government to discuss why Twitter has been blocked and ways to resolve the matter,” Twitter told The Gazette.

“Our aim is to chart a path forward to the restoration of Twitter for everyone in Nigeria.

We look forward to ongoing discussions with the Nigerian government and seeing the service restored very soon.”