‘Nigeria needs Twitter’ — Lawan breaks silence on ban

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has broken his silence on the suspension of Twitter by the federal government.

Speaking with journalists at the national assembly in Abuja on Friday, Lawan said the country needs Twitter.

The chairman of the national assembly said the senate is optimistic that the federal government and Twitter will eventually resolve their differences.

“The honorable minister of information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, informed Nigerians that they are talking with Twitter to resolve this matter. Our belief is that Nigeria needs Twitter just as much as Twitter needs Nigeria,” he said.

“We believe that the matter between Twitter and the federal government of Nigeria will be resolved.

“But beyond that, I’m an optimist, I believe all of us will have learnt our lessons.”

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, announced the suspension of the social media platform a week ago.

The minister accused Twitter of “threatening the existence of Nigeria”.

The action of the government came after the microblogging platform took down a controversial tweet of President Muhammadu Buhari.

When the national assembly resumed sitting on Tuesday, the senate, unlike the house of representatives, kept mum over the ban.

At the lower legislative chamber, the information minister was summoned over the ban, but its members disagreed over a prayer asking the government to reverse the ban immediately.