The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, has denied reports claiming he listed conditions Twitter must meet before the temporary suspension of its operations in Nigeria can be lifted.
The Minister today June 7, met with the ambassadors of the United States, United Kingdom, the European Union, the Republic of Ireland and Canada in Abuja over their recent comments on the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. The foreign envoys in a letter jointly signed and released over the weekend condemned the suspension of Twitter.
The Minister during his meeting was quoted to have said “Twitter’s operations in Nigeria will be restored only if the platform can be used responsibly”.
Many interpreted his comment to mean Twitter must meet this condition before it can resume operations in Nigeria.
The Ministry in a statement released by the ministry’s spokesperson, Ferdinand Nwonye, said the Minister’s comment was taken out of context.
“This statement by the Honourable Minister has been quoted out of context.
Contrary to the publications, the Honourable Minister was speaking generally about the responsibilities that go with freedom of speech, stating that platforms that have the power to instantly disseminate information among billions of people have the added responsibility to exercise that power responsibly.
The Ministry wishes to state categorically that the Honourable Minister did not give any conditions regarding lifting the Twitter suspension” Nwonye said