Adeboye defies Twitter ban, says tweeting is within UN charter on human rights

Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has defied the federal government’s Twitter ban.

The cleric on Monday posted a tweet reacting to the ban of the microblogging platform.

He said tweeting is in accordance with Article 19 of the UN universal declaration of human rights.

“The Redeemed Christian Church of God is domiciled in more than 170 Nations & Territories. The tweets here are in accordance to Article 19 of the UN universal declaration of Human Rights,” the cleric tweeted.

The federal government had on Friday announced the “indefinite” suspension of Twitter owing to “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

The development led to the blocking of access to the micro-blogging platform by MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile, and other networks.

The decision to restrict access to the platform has elicited criticism from key stakeholders locally and internationally.

Amnesty International (AI) had asked the federal government to reverse its decision while the US, UK, Canada, and EU also condemned the development.

Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, met with the envoys of the three countries and the EU earlier on Monday.

During the meeting, he said Nigeria is taking their concerns “very seriously”.

The minister said the platform will be restored only if it can be used “responsibly”.

“The condition would be a responsible use of the social media and that really has to be it,” he added.

“We are not saying that Twitter is threatening the country or any such thing; why we have taken this measure is to stop them to be used as platforms for destabilisation and facilitation of criminality or encouragement of criminalities.”