The House of Representatives on Thursday, rejected the motion seeking to lift the Federal Government’s ban on microblogging and social media platform, Twitter.
The rejection of the motion by the majority of the members of the lower legislative chamber follows the consideration of the committee which it set up for the matter.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had on June 8, 2021, mandated the committees on Communication, Justice, Information and Culture; and National Security and Intelligence, to immediately commence an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the suspension of the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
At the consideration of the report on Thursday, July 1, 2021, the Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Toby Okechukwu, suggested an amendment to one of the recommendations.
The recommendation states, “That the Federal Government should take into cognizance the negative effect of the Twitter suspension on Nigerians who depend on the platform for their livelihood and lift the suspension.’’
The motion which was seconded by another member of the House of Representatives, was, however, rejected by the majority of the House when put to vote.
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It can be recalled that the Federal Government, a few weeks ago, suspended the operations of Twitter indefinitely in the country citing double standards by the microblogging and social media platform, and the persistent use of the platform for activities that were capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
The suspension was announced, days after Twitter deleted a post by President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly violating its policy.
Subsequently, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) ordered television and radio stations to suspend the use of Twitter immediately.
However, President Muhammadu Buhari had last week, set up a high-powered delegation to be led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, to dialogue with Twitter over the recent ban placed on the social media platform.
