Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria has directed all TV and radio stations to “suspend the patronage of Twitter immediately,” describing its use as unpatriotic, the country’s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) said Monday. “It would be unpatriotic for any broadcaster in Nigeria to continue to patronize the suspended Twitter as a source of its information.”More than 39 million Nigerians have a Twitter account, according to NOI polls, a public opinion and research organization. The presidency denied that the Twitter suspension was a response to the removal of that post. “VPN app” was the second most searched trend Saturday on Google in Nigeria, as virtual private networks can enable Twitter users to bypass the ban. “Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has directed for the immediate prosecution of offenders of the federal government ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria,” spokesman Umar Jibrilu Gwandu said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer June 07, 2021 13:30 UTC