Nigerian Government “Indefinitely” Suspends Twitter

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Information and Culture, the Nigerian Government has “indefinitely” suspended Twitter.

“The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria,” it read.

The statement was posted on the ministry’s Twitter page on Friday morning. According to the statement, they are blaming Twitter for allowing the platform to be used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

The suspension comes two days after Twitter deleted a tweet from Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari where he threatened to deal with people in the Nigerian southeast who he believes is responsible for the recurring attacks on public infrastructure in the region.

“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” Buhari wrote in the now-deleted tweet, referring to the Nigerian Civil war that took place between 1967-1970.

Users flagged the tweet causing it to be removed and President Buhari’s account was suspended for 12 hours.

In a statement, Twitter called the announcement by the Nigerian Government, “deeply concerning,” and that they are trying to rectify the situation.