Nigerian Twitter Ban Backfires as Nigerians Continue Tweeting

Nigerian Twitter ban backfires as Nigerians continue Tweeting thereby violating the ban that was placed on the microblogging site by the Federal Government.

Nigerians have continued to defy the government ban placed on Twitter and have continued to use the site.

A couple of days ago, the Nigerian government announced that it would ban Twitter use in the country since it was a platform that didn’t have good intentions to spread the right information.

True to his word,  the President  went ahead and directed the communication Ministry to block the website operation in Nigeria.

To further ensure that Nigerians adhere to the ban, the government has threatened to arrest and prosecute any Nigerian that violates the ban.

But research has shown that the governments directive has backfired because the citizens continue to access Twitter through Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to bypass the ban.

It was also established that the Gbenga Sesan of the Paradigm Initiative that offers internet and digital services to youths across African has announced that the Nigerian government ban against using Twitter has backfired.

“Guess what? The only people who have been muted right now appear to be the government themselves. Yes, some businesses are not tweeting because clearly they do not want to be punished, but the citizens they were trying to proscribe are still tweeting,” he told the BBC.

It is important to note that the ban was declared by the Nigerian government on Friday the 4th of June. 2021,  after it was established that the website was being used to undermine the country`s corporate existence.

Currently, there is no Nigerian law  banning them from tweeting even though the government has announced that violators of the ban will be prosecuted.

Since the ban was placed, citizens and western powers have condemned the directive of the Nigerian government banning Twitter use in the country, stating that it is a breach in freedom of communication.

Some prominent leaders, especially the opposition of Nigeria are still tweeting and have been ignoring the ban.

Also, Popular Nigerian newspapers having online platforms such as The Punch, Daily Trust, and Guardian continue to use Twitter.

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