The government of Nigeria sometime in June 2021 suspended the use of twitter in the country after the social media platform deleted a tweet made by the handle of President Muhammad Buhari about punishing the Biafra separatists.

Twitter in its user policy delete tweets that promote violence, spread false information, spread hate speech and promote abuse of persons and in enforcing this user policy they go as much as blocking or suspending and deleting accounts that don’t comply.

Their act of deleting the tweet of the president of Nigeria in June, 2021 which according to them conflicts with their users’ policy was not the first time they are coming after a tweet made by a president of a country. They have in numerous occasions deleted tweets made by President Donald Trump the former president of the United States and go as far as deleting his account and banning him for life in the platform for his failure to comply with their user policy.

The Nigerian government in a retaliatory measure banned the use of the platform in the country and the government gave out conditions the social media company must meet before the ban can be lifted; one of the conditions is that Twitter inc should apologize to the Nigerian government for embarrassing and insulting the president of Nigeria by deleting his tweet off their platform.

After months of back and forth between the Nigerian government and the management of Twitter Inc, we can only presume that the social media platform have meet with some of the conditions given to them by the Nigerian government to warrant the government lifting the ban on the platform.

Nigerian Government Lifts Twitter Suspension After 222 Days

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The Nigerian government has lifted the controversial Twitter ban, ending access restrictions it had imposed on the microblogging platform since early last year.

The decision was announced in a statement by the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, on Wednesday evening.

The statement said the order to lift the suspension came after the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Mr. Isa Ali Ibrahim, sent a memo recommending the lifting, from the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement, to the president.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) directs me to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12am tonight, 13th January 2022.

“The approval was given following a memo written to the President by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim.

“In the Memo, the Minister updated and requested the President’s approval for the lifting based on the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation,” the NITDA statement said in full.

The Twitter ban has been one of the most controversial decisions president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has taken. It drew wide condemnation and was described as an attack on free speech, which is the core foundation of democracy.

Despite the condemnation, Buhari’s administration stood by its decision, prolonging the ban for as long as 222 days, costing Nigerians millions of dollars.

Late last year, during his Independence Day speech, Buhari outlined terms and conditions that Twitter must meet for the ban to be lifted. They include: National Security and Cohesion, Registration, Physical presence and Representation, Fair Taxation, Dispute Resolution and Local Content. The government has repeatedly claimed that Twitter has agreed to the terms and conditions.

Twitter was banned in Nigeria after it removed Buhari’s tweet for violating its policy. The social media app, who had earlier chosen Ghana over Nigeria to open its headquarters in Africa, admitted it has been in talks with the Nigerian government, but didn’t say it has agreed to the terms.

Twitter suspension is one of the major bans that have taken place under Buhari’s administration. In August 2019, Buhari ordered the closure of Nigerian land borders, a decision he said was aimed at boosting rice production and stopping arms smuggling into Nigeria. The land border closure, which lasted for about 15 months, stoked Nigeria’s inflation rate to over 15% and failed to meet its objective.

The government said Twitter has agreed to comply with applicable tax obligations on its operations under Nigerian law among other things. 

However, It is believed that the decision to lift the suspension has been borne from the concern that it will impact the ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC)’s chances in the 2023 presidential election.