Nigeria's government suspends twitter indefinitely

Nigeria's government announced on Friday that it was suspending Twitter indefinitely in Africa's most populous nation, a day after the company deleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement.

It was not immediately clear when the suspension would take effect as users could still access Twitter late Friday, and many said they would simply use VPNs to maintain access to the platform.

Many Nigerians, however, were outraged by the move.

In Abuja, Pastor Wisdom told the Associated Press on Saturday that the move would bring "a lot of chaos" as many Nigerians use Twitter as their main news source.

"I don't think it's a good idea to ban Twitter because Nigeria has come of age, we are advancing. So why go back?" said another resident, Raphael Onoja.

Meanwhile, Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, told that Associated Press that President Buhari was not simply getting annoyed over a deleted tweet.

"I think it is much more related to a systematic attempt by the authorities to limit people's access to information, to control what kind of information people receive and also to determine who has a right to share information they consider sensitive or criticism to their government" Ojigho said in an interview via Zoom.

Twitter deleted Buhari's post on Wednesday, calling it abusive, after the president threatened suspected separatist militants in the southeast.

More than 1 million people died during the 1967-1970 civil war that erupted when secessionists sought to create an independent Biafra for the ethnic Igbo people.

Buhari, an ethnic Fulani, was on the opposing side in the war against the Igbos.

In recent months, pro-Biafra separatists have been accused of attacking police and government buildings, and Buhari vowed to retaliate.