Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said that the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria was one of the most difficult decisions taken during his eight-year tenure, stressing that the move was made in the national interest.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News on Wednesday, the former minister dismissed claims that the ban was a reaction to the deletion of a tweet by then-President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said, “One of the most difficult decisions I took was suspending Twitter’s operation in Nigeria. I had to take the decision on national interest, because a time came when Twitter became the platform of choice for all those who are destabilising the country. There are some decisions like that that you have to take, not because you like them.
“Honestly, that was not. I went to President Buhari and I asked him, we need to suspend the service of Twitter. And he asked why. He said, is it because they deleted my tweet? I said, no, sir. And I gave him instances and examples.
“I’d been an advocate of regulating the social media for a very long time. I started by advocacy. I started by visiting media houses. I started by trying to work with them. But it was clear in my mind that an unregulated social media could be a disaster. If you monitored me between 2016 and 2023, I was always on the issue of social media. And I kept saying, I’m not trying to stifle free press, but we must regulate the social media.”
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