Two state governors belonging to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) have defied the directive of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government regarding the use of Twitter.
The federal government through its propagandist, Lai Mohammed, announced the indefinite ban of Twitter on Friday but the presidency said the ban is temporal.
On Saturday, the ban became effective as Nigerians were not able to access the micro-blogging platform without the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN). Later, Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, threatened to prosecute those still using Twitter despite the ban.
Without citing which part of the constitution was being violated by the continuous using of the social networking site, the AGF who doubles as Justice Minister told Premium Times that those arrested will be notified of the sections they violated when arraigned not minding the shut down of courts nationwide.
On Sunday, Rotimi Akeredolu and Nasir El-rufai, governors of Ondo and Kaduna states respectively, defied the directive of the federal government and made use of their verified Twitter accounts.
While Mr Akeredolu, at exactly 7:11pm, tweeted to condemn the alleged killing by violent herdsmen in Igangan area Oyo State where about 50 persons were reportedly massacred, Mr El-rufai, whose son had earlier violated same directive, at 9:37pm, shared an article titled, “Based Nigeria: African country teaches US lesson in how to handle Big Tech tyranny.”
Meanwhile, radio and television broadcast stations have been directed to stop using Twitter and reporting events thereof.
