President Muhammadu Buhari has constituted a team comprising of senior cabinet ministers, including Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami and others to negotiate with Twitter.
Twitter was banned from operating in Nigeria on June 4 after deleting a tweet of President Muhammadu Buhari on June 2, that violated the rules of the microblogging app.
There have been pressures on Buhari from the US, EU, UK and other countries, plus numerous court actions of Nigerians seeking to upturn the ban.
Malami had also said citizens using Twitter would be prosecuted. But senior church leaders including the General Overseers of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Deeper Christian Life, have said they would disobey the ban, forcing Malami to deny his own threats.
In a statement on Tuesday, June 22, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, who is the chief proponent of Twitter ban, announced that a team had been set up to dialogue with Twitter.
He said the team comprises of Fashola, Malami, Minister of Communications, Isa Pantami, Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
Lai Mohammed’s statement reads: “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the composition of the Federal Government’s team to engage with Twitter over the recent suspension of the operations of the microblogging and social networking service in Nigeria.
“The Federal Government’s team also comprises the Attorney General of the Federation and Honourable Minister of Justice, Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Honourable Minister of State for Labour and Employment as well as other relevant government agencies.
“Following the indefinite suspension of its operations in Nigeria, for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence, Twitter wrote to President Buhari seeking to engage with the Federal Government over the suspension, with a view to charting a path forward,” Lai Mohammed claimed.