By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
The attempt by the Federal Government to clip the wings of the micro blogging and social networking service, Twitter, continued to receive cold shoulders from prominent Nigerians who are ignoring the suspension order.
On Monday, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, joined the ranks of naysayers when the he reacted to the suspension order.
Adeboye said tweets by his church are in accordance with the United Nations declaration on human rights, irrespective of the suspension clamped on Twitter by the federal government.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had announced last week the “indefinite” suspension in a statement by his spokesman, Segun Adeyemi.
In announcing the suspension, Mohammed, who cited “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence,” for the action also disclosed that federal government had directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) “to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria”.
On his part, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, ordered the immediate prosecution of those who flout the ban.
The AGF, in a statement that was signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Gwandu, on Saturday, directed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF) “to swing into action and commence in earnest the process of prosecution of violators of the Federal Government De-activation of operations of Twitter in Nigeria.”
Malami further directed the DPPF, “to liase with the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, National Communication Communication (NCC) and other relevant government agencies to ensure the speedy prosecution of offenders without any further delay.”
But Pastor Adeboye strongly pushed back on Monday. While reacting to allegations of flouting FG’s order in a terse statement, he said: “The Redeemed Christian Church of God is domiciled in more than 170 Nations & Territories. The tweets here are in accordance to Article 19 of the UN universal declaration of Human Rights.”
