Reverse ban on Twitter or face legal action, NBA threatens FG

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called on the federal government to immediately reverse the ban on Twitter, or it would have no choice but to challenge the decision in Court.

Recall that Twitter had earlier deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s war statement saying it violates its community standards against inciting violence, and in retaliation, the government suspended Twitter’s operation in Nigeria indefinitely.

In a series of tweets on Friday, the President of NBA, Olumide Akpata, noted that Nigeria is operating as a democracy, which stipulates that every action of the government must be backed by the law.

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Akpata said the directive to the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to begin the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria, “is another disguised attempt to regulate social media, restrict freedom of speech and shrink civic space.”

He added that the NBA “finds no constitutional or legal authority to support the peremptory action of the Federal Government to suspend the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.”

Akpata called on the government to immediately reverse the decision, or the NBA will “have no choice but to challenge the same in the interest of the public and for the sake of our democracy.”