L-R: Lai, Malami, Pastor Adeboye and Buhari
FG is set to arraign Pastor Adeboye, Kumuyi, Oyedepo and others for using Twitter.
Newsone reports that the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has insisted that Abubakar Malami, the nation’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, will see to it that Nigerians who accessed micro-blogging site, Twitter, after the imposition of a ban on it, will be prosecuted.
This online news platform understands that the Minister of Information and Culture made this comment in an interview with BBC Africa Focus on Monday, June 7.
When asked if Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), will be prosecuted for using Twitter, the Minister stated that the persistent use of Twitter in Nigeria is undermining the country’s corporate existence.
The Minister stressed: “The government has suspended indefinitely, the operations of Twitter in Nigeria because of the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence and the government
“Also directed the National Broadcasting Commission to immediately commence the process of licencing all social media operations in Nigeria,” he said
“The attorney-general has made it clear that if anyone violates the regulation, that such person will be prosecuted. I think it is the right of the attorney-general to decide who to prosecute,” he added.
Newsone Nigeria reports that the statement by the Minister came at a time Pastor Adeboye justified his insistence on using the platform with Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Article 19 of the UDHR states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Aside from Pastor Adeboye, W.F. Kumuyi, the General Overseer of Deeper Life Church, has also insisted that his church would not respect the federal government’s ban on Twitter because its Twitter handle reaches a global audience.
Similarly, the governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde and the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, also published statements on Twitter despite the ban on the micro-blogging site by the Nigerian government.