The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has the prerogative to decide the Nigerians to be prosecuted for violating the Federal government’s suspension of Twitter usage in Nigeria.
He said this on BBC Focus while responding to the disclaimer issued by the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christain Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Twitter.
””The Redeemed Christian Church of God is domiciled in more than 170 Nations & Territories. The tweets here are in accordance to Article 19 of the UN universal declaration of Human Rights.”Adeboye’s tweet read
Some Nigerians perceived his tweet as a violation of the Federal government’s directive, since the Attorney General had in a statement released on Saturday, June 6, threatening to prosecute anyone found violating the Twitter suspension.
Responding to a question on whether the Justice Minister will be prosecuting the respected clergyman for violating the ban, Lai Mohammed said
“The attorney-general has made it clear that if anybody who violates the regulation, that such person will be prosecuted and this is not about any person. I think it is the right of the attorney-general to decide who to prosecute.
Mohammed also gave reasons why the micro-blogging site was suspended in Nigeria.
”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
