Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says
the federal government negotiated with Twitter to lift the suspension of its
operations in the country.
Mohammed said the clarification became necessary to counter
a report which quoted a former Twitter employee as claiming there were no
negotiations before the seven-month ban was lifted.
Peiter ‘Mudge’ Zatko, the former Twitter employee,
recently made the allegation to the US Federal Trade
Commission.
In June 2021, the federal government announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter’s operation after the platform deleted tweets made by President Muhammadu Buhari, who had threatened to treat members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the “language they understand”.
The suspension was eventually lifted in January 2022.
While speaking on Monday at the 13th edition of the
administration’s scorecard in Abuja on Monday, the minister said there “was a
long-drawn negotiation between Nigeria and Twitter, at the instance of the
latter”.
“Seven days after the suspension, precisely on June 11th
2021, we received a letter, addressed to Mr. President, from Twitter’s
vice-president in charge of public policy, Europe, Middle East and Africa,
Sinead McSweeney, seeking to meet with us on the Twitter suspension,” he said.
“That letter
kick-started a number of activities that culminated in the extensive
negotiation. A copy of that letter is displayed on the screens here and will be
made available to gentlemen of the press.
“After the letter, the federal government announced its team
to discuss with Twitter.
“The team, chaired by the minister of information and
culture, also comprised the attorney-general of the federation and honourable
minister of justice, honourable ministers of communications and digital
economy; foreign affairs as well as works and housing, honourable minister of
state for labour and employment and the director-general, National Intelligence
Agency.
“The back-and-forth negotiation culminated in a series of
agreements that paved the way for the lifting of the Twitter suspension in
January this year.
“Gentlemen, with the
facts that we have supplied, you can now see that the fellow who reportedly
alleged that Twitter did not negotiate with Nigeria is either being economical
with the truth or didn’t even understand the workings of the company where he
worked.”
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