BEVERLY HILLS, June 05, (THEWILL) – Despite worldwide outrage over Nigeria’s suspension of Twitter, following the controversy that trailed the platform deleting a controversial tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari’s, his wife and First Lady, Aisha, has deactivated her account.
Aisha, usually active on Twitter, took the step a few hours after the Ministry of Information and Culture, announced the suspension of the micro-blogging site.
She made the announcement on her official Twitter account on Friday night.
“I will be deactivating my Twitter account for now. Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria,” she tweeted.
Following the announcement, THEWILL learnt that her account, @aishambuhari, opened in 2016 and having over 1 million followers as of June 4, was no longer available on the social media platform.
Her action late on Friday came after Twitter said it was ”deeply concerned” over its suspension in Nigeria.
“The announcement made by the Nigerian government on Twitter’s operations in Nigeria is deeply concerning. We’re investigating and will provide updates when we know more,” Sarah Hart, Twitter’s Senior Policy Communications Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in a tweet.
THEWILL reports that President Buhari had on Tuesday threatened to be resolute against separatists attacking facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), killing security personnel and destroying critical infrastructure in the South East.
Buhari, in his response to INEC’s briefing, said: “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
He also posted the statement on his Twitter page but it was pulled down after many petitioned Twitter.
Facebook on Friday also deleted Buhari’s post on the 1967-1970 Civil War.
“In line with our global policies, we’ve removed a post from President Buhari’s Facebook page for violating our Community Standards against inciting violence. We remove any content from individuals or organisations that violates our policies on Facebook,” the platform explained.
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had on Friday announced Twitter’s indefinite suspension.
Mohammed announced Twitter’s suspension in a statement on Friday by his media aide, Segun Adeyemi.
The suspension of the social networking service was also shared on the Twitter handle of the Federal Ministry of Information, which has since generated reactions from some Nigerians on Twitter.
The Minister cited “the persistent use of the platform for activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence” as the reason for the suspension.
Individuals and groups including Amnesty International (AI) have condemned the decision to suspend Twitter, saying it stifles democracy.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) warned it would sue Nigeria for the action while AI termed the action an infringement on the rights to freedom of expression and access to information.
Amnesty said: “We call on authorities to immediately reverse the unlawful suspension and other plans to gag the media, repress the civic space, and undermine Nigerians’ human rights.
“This action is clearly inconsistent and incompatible with Nigeria’s international obligations, including under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
