MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9Mobile Bow To Pressure, Deactivates Twitter On Their Network

Mobile telecommunication operators in Nigeria (MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9Mobile) on Friday bowed to pressure from the federal government of Nigeria to deactivate the microblogging site, Twitter on their networks.

Efforts to access Twitter were denied severally when we tried to log in via these network operators in Nigeria. Nigerians who spoke with Allnews Nigeria expressed dissatisfaction as they were denied access to Twitter.

The Nigerian government has suspended activities on Twitter indefinitely following the accusation that the microblogging site is “undermining Nigeria’s existence.”

Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has said in a statement on Friday that the government was forced to act because of "the persistent use of the platform for activities capable of undermining Nigeria's corporate existence.”

Many Nigerians on Twitter has expressed dissatisfaction over the decision of the government to suspend the activities of Twitter in Nigeria and have vowed to find other alternatives to remaining active.

A Check by Allnews Tech experts on Saturday showed that the platform has been deactivated and cannot be accessed within Nigeria except for those using Virtual Private Network (VPN)

The ban on Twitter comes days after a post by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 1967 civil war was deleted by the microblogging platform.