The federal government on Saturday has made a u-turn on its decision to prosecute Nigerians using Twitter after Ban.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami noted that the federal government will not prosecute Nigerians using Twitter but instead will go after those who are helping Nigerians circumvent the ban on the micro-blogging site.
Malami had purportedly directed the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), to begin the process of prosecuting those still accessing the Twitter through VPN after suspension.
Speaking to Newsmen, Malami now said Nigerians have a right to tweet from anywhere in the world.
He said: “It is within their guaranteed fundamental right to tweet from anywhere in the world. Nigeria, being a democratic nation, cannot stop its citizens from exercising their rights of freedom of expression.
”But our position on Twitter is clear: Anyone, whether individual or corporate institution that enables Twitter to circumvent the ban the Federal Government of Nigeria placed on the company, will be prosecuted.”
Malami also added that at no time did the government threaten to arrest any religious leader over the use of Twitter.
The Federal Government had ordered all Telecoms to block Nigerians from accessing Twitter.
This action has left many Nigerians with no other choice but to engage the services VPN providers as an alternative option to access Twitter and other social media networks.
