Twitter encouraged IPOB to promote violence - Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has stated that the social media platform, Twitter has given a platform for secessionist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to promote violence in the country.

Lai Mohammed made the allegation on Tuesday, June 22, in his presentation before members of the House Representatives Joint Committee on the suspension of Twitter at the National Assembly in Abuja.

“The decision of the Federal Government to ban the activities of Twitter for being a national security threat is well-founded in law in light of the fact that the platform affords IPOB, an organisation already proscribed by the Federal High Court, to champion its seditious and terrorist-based activities,” he said.

Background

Twitter deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari on June 2, and this made the Nigerian government suspended the social media giant days later.

Amid the criticism that followed the action of the government, some prominent leaders insisted that they would not stop using Twitter despite the threat to sanction them.

Presently

Lai Mohammed appearing before the House of Representatives also stated that Twitter played a role during the EndSARS protest as it used its platform to raise funds for the protesters.

According to Mohammed, Section 78 (1) of the CAMA Law 2020, states that a foreign company cannot operate in Nigeria unless it first registers and the government is empowered to defend Nigeria’s cyberspace, including social media.

The minister insisted that individual interest would not take precedence over national security, stressing that the ban was legal.