Buhari, Malami, Lai Mohammed still on Twitter despite ban

 

President Muhammadu Buhari, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Ministry of Information and Culture), are all still on Twitter notwithstanding the ban placed on the social media giant by the Nigerian government.

A search on the Twitter platform Monday afternoon showed that three days after the information minister issued a statement announcing the suspension of Twitter operations in the country, the President, his ministers and various ministries, departments and agencies of government were yet to deactivate their accounts.

Even the president’s spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, still has his account running, notwithstanding the fact that he has not made any fresh tweet since the suspension of Twitter operations.

Only the president’s wife, First Lady Aisha Buhari, is known to have deactivated her account @aishambuhari.

Just on Monday afternoon, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) issued a statement, ordering broadcast media stations operating in Nigeria to deactivate their handles from Twitter, in line with the federal government’s suspension of Twitter.

READ: Lai Mohammed lashes out at Twitter for deleting Buhari’s tweet

“Consequent on the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria by the Federal Government over the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining the corporate existence of Nigeria, the National Broadcasting Commission directs all broadcasting stations in Nigeria to suspend the patronage of Twitter immediately.

“Therefore, strict compliance is enjoined and in Compliance to the above directive, broadcasting stations are hereby advised to de-install twitter handles,” the statement signed by the Director General of NBC, Prof Armstrong Idachaba, ordered.

Idachaba cited sections of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to back-up his directive.

Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation, had already directed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF) to begin the process of prosecuting Nigerians who continue to use Twitter after the ban.