Twitter’s ban in Nigeria has been defied by the Nigeria’s Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, just few days after the Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai also tweeted.
This was confirmed in a post on his verified Facebook page on Tuesday, where the Attorney General posted a screenshot from the Twitter app, showing his account has been deleted.
“My Twitter account deactivated,” he wrote.
A Twitter account can’t be deactivated unless you have access to the app, checks have revealed. This means Malami must have logged in, accessed his account using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to deactivate it, despite issuing a directive against such tactic.
Twitter was banned last Friday by Nigerian government after the App deleted a controversial comment made by President Muhammadu Buhari, in which he made reference to the Nigerian Civil War, which many Nigerians described as distasteful.
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said in an interview with BBC Africa Focus on Monday, that the Attorney General of the Federation and justice minister, Abubakar Malami has the prerogative to decide who to prosecute for violating Twitter ban, including Pastor Enoch Adeboye and Pastor William Kumuyi.
This came after both Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Kumuyi of the Deeper Life Bible Church tweeted on defiance of the Twitter ban in the country.
The news of Malami bypassing restrictions to deactivate his account must be of particular interest to Nigerians as the AGF, had on Saturday directed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation to begin an immediate prosecution of individuals who violate the Twitter suspension order of the Federal Government.
“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’s spokesman, Umar Gwandu said in a statement.
