Nigerian government has ordered the prosecution of the violators of the ban on microblogging social platform, Twitter.
The Nigerian government on Friday announced it has suspended Twitter operations in Nigeria, but Nigerians, who are massively present on the medium have bypassed the ban through the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPN).
In a statement issued on Saturday by Jibrilu Gwanghwamun, Media Aide to Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Abubakar Malabu, he said the Minister has ordered the prosecution of those bypassing the ban.
Gwandu said the “Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN has directed the immediate prosecution of offenders of the Federal Government ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria.”
He said further that Malami directed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation at the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, to swing into action and commence in earnest the process of prosecution of violators of the Federal Government De-activation of operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
Malami directed the DPPF to liaise with the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, National Communication Communication and other relevant government agencies to ensure the speedy prosecution of offenders without further delay.
Twitter and foreign governments have restated their commitments to ensuring that access to the medium is restored soon in the country.
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet was removed by Twitter for an alleged breach of its community standards. The President had made threats to attackers of national infrastructure in the tweets and videos but was accused of making statements which were capable of rekindling the flames of the Nigerian Civil War.