Mohammed said the negotiations culminated in a series of agreements that paved the way for the lifting of the Twitter suspension in January this year.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Nigerian Government on Monday released a document to show it entered into negotiation with Twitter following its suspension of the micro-blogging site in June 2021.
Twitter’s operations got blocked in Nigeria on June 4, 2021, after the platform deleted a part of some tweets made by President Muhammadu Buhari on insecurity in the South East. The government said it perceived the action as interference with the sovereignty of Nigeria.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, was forced to release the document after a former Twitter employee claimed the platform did not negotiate with the Nigerian government.
Mohammed said at the 13th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023) in Abuja that a Twitter executive wrote to President Buhari seven days after the suspension.
“Seven days after the suspension, precisely on June 11th 2021, we received a letter, addressed to Mr. President, from Twitter’s Vice President in charge of Public Policy, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Sinead McSweeney, seeking to meet with us on the Twitter suspension.
“That letter kick-started a number of activities that culminated in the extensive negotiation,” he said.
A copy of the letter was made available to reporters.
The minister said after receiving the letter, the Federal Government announced its team to discuss with Twitter.
Mohammed said he chaired the team which comprised the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Ministers of Communications and Digital Economy and Foreign Affairs.
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He said other members of the team were the Minister of Works and Housing, Minister of State for Labour and Employment and the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency.
Mohammed said following the composition of the team, they received another letter from a group, Albright Stonebridge Group, which was working at the behest of Twitter.
The minister said Twitter also set up a team headed by Sinead Sweeney, Twitter’s Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa, to enter into discussion with the government.
Other members of Twitter’s team, according to the minister included, Karen White, Senior Director, Public Policy, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa; Ronan Costello, Senior Public Policy Manager, Africa, Europe, Middle East; Emmanuel Lubanzadio, Head of Public Policy, Sub-Saharan Africa; Jim Baker, Deputy General Counsel; and Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Senior Adviser, Albright Stonebridge Group.
“The back-and-forth negotiations culminated in a series of agreements that paved the way for the lifting of the Twitter suspension in January this year.
“Gentlemen, with the facts that we have supplied, you can now see that the fellow who reportedly alleged that Twitter did not negotiate with Nigeria is either being economical with the truth or didn’t even understand the workings of the company where he worked,” Mohammed said.
