President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday tweeted for the first time after his administration lifted the ban on Twitter, a micro-blogging platform.
A deleted tweet from Mr Buhari last year June, where he threatened a repeat of the civil war while addressing violent secessionist targeting security agencies and government facilities in the South-East, necessitated the ban on the platform.
While his wife, Aisha, and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami deleted their accounts on Twitter, other ministers, aides and party supporters stopped tweeting but resumed using it when the ban was lifted.
Seven months after the ban, the president ordered the restoration of the social network which many Nigerians were still using despite his administration’s threat of prosecuting defaulters who use Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, claimed the lift became necessary after Twitter accepted all the conditions handed to it by the federal government but some Nigerians were of the view that the ban was lifted because of the election season.
In a series of tweets to commemorate Eid-el-Fitr on Monday, Buhari spoke of how the fight against Boko Haram has been long and hard, but said victory is within sight.
“After a period of fasting and reflection, this year, we have cause to welcome the occasion in hope. The battle waged against terrorists who falsely masquerade under the name of Islam is approaching its conclusion,” he tweeted. “The fight has been long and hard. Final victory is within sight. Boko Haram and its offshoots’ final embers are now fading. Last month, the leader of ISWAP was killed in an airstrike. Since the New Year, thousands of fighters have surrendered.
“The territories they used to occupy are now seeing the return of those who were forced to flee their barbarity. Normality is finally beginning to return to the Northeast. It is a long process. Yet it is one we are, together, now embarking upon.
“With the designation of bandit groups as terrorists, the challenges of banditry & kidnapping are being tackled differently in the north-west and north-central where the latest military acquisitions and armed forces are being fanned out across the region to thwart acts of terror,” he added.
Buhari said his administration is working hard on every front to secure the country.
I would like to send my greetings and very best wishes to Muslims in Nigeria and across the world, on the successful end of Ramadan, and the commemoration of Eid-el-Fitr. pic.twitter.com/S2TFaV2ISR
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) May 2, 2022
