Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, has violated the recent ban on the use of Twitter by the Federal Government.
On Tuesday evening, Malami posted on his verified Facebook account that he had deactivated his Twitter account. However, that could not have happened if he did not access Twitter through the backdoor, as regular channels of accessing the microblogging site had been taken out of the hands of users since the ban became effective on Saturday.
FIJ’s check on the Twitter handle @MalamiSan showed that it no longer existed.
Unlike Malami, Aisha Buhari, Nigeria’s First Lady, had exited Twitter late Friday night, hours before Saturday when users were no longer able to tweet via connections to any on Nigeria’s internet service providers
Earlier, Malami had ordered the prosecution of citizens who used Twitter after its Friday suspension.
A statement released by Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, his media aide, on Saturday, had directed the Director of Public Prosecution to commence the process of prosecuting violators.
“The AGF directed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF) at his office 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,” the statement read in part.
“The DPPF is to liaise with the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, National Communication Communication (NCC) and other relevant government agencies to ensure the speedy prosecution of offenders without any further delay.”
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