Nigerian Lower House Refuses to Lift Twitter Ban - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2021) Nigeria's House of Representatives has decided not to end the government-ordered suspension of Twitter in the country at this time, Nigerian media reported on Thursday.

The Nigerian government issued an indefinite suspension notice for Twitter in June, stating that the platform could be used to jeopardize the country's unity.

The Vanguard newspaper said that lawmakers made the decision not to lift the ban after reviewing a report by a house committee tasked with assessing the risks. Only Deputy Minority Leader Toby Okechukwu proposed lifting the ban, while the majority of lawmakers refused to back him, according to the report.

The ban was issued two days after Twitter deleted a post by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

In the deleted tweet, Buhari brought up the 1967-70 Nigerian Civil War to threaten treating "those misbehaving today" in "the language they will understand." Some of Nigerian media interpreted the tweet as a threat to those supporting the separation of Biafra, a southeastern region which attempted to secede in the late 1960s, resulting in a brutal armed conflict.