Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra,(IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is using Twitter to “destabilise Nigeria”.
Mohammed stated this on Monday evening while defending the Federal Government’s Twitter ban during an interview with BBC News Africa.
The minister maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration won’t allow any separatist group set the country on fire.
He said, “The government has suspended indefinitely the operations of Twitter in Nigeria because of the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
“The government also directed the regulatory agency which is the National Broadcasting Commission to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
“The main reason for this is because of the persistent use of Twitter in particular for activities that are inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria.”
Mohammed added, “IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu in particular, his platform of choice to destabilise the country is Twitter.
“Twitter is actually the platform of choice for the separatist leader who resides outside Nigeria but issues directives for his members to attack the symbols of authority such as policemen, soldiers, correctional centres, electoral offices and this has been done willfully and consistently without consequences using always the Twitter platform.”
Meanwhile, the social media giant deleted a tweet by Kanu where he threatened that “any army they send to #Biafraland will die there. None will return alive even if it means sacrificing my people”.
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