Buhari Asked If I Had Capacity To Ban Twitter – Lai Mohammed

Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has revealed that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari asked him only one critical question before approving the 2021 suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria: whether he had the capacity to enforce the decision.

Mohammed disclosed this on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television, where he defended the controversial move that sparked nationwide and international criticism.

According to him, the decision to suspend Twitter, now known as X, was not taken because the platform offended politicians or the political class, but due to what he described as persistent regulatory breaches and “reckless” conduct by the social media company.

“When we took the decision to suspend the operations of Twitter, the President, God bless his soul, asked me just one question: did I have the capacity to do so? And I answered yes,” Mohammed said.

He explained that the move followed extensive engagements with Twitter which, according to him, failed to address the Federal Government’s concerns.

“I discussed with my colleague, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. The sole reason we suspended Twitter was because it was becoming reckless,” he added.

The former minister maintained that the action was taken in the national interest and not as an attempt to stifle free speech or suppress dissent, as widely alleged at the time.

Nigeria suspended Twitter in June 2021 following disputes over content moderation and regulatory issues, a move that lasted 222 days and disrupted digital businesses, media organisations and online civic engagement.

The suspension was eventually lifted in January 2022 after negotiations between the Federal Government and Twitter.

As part of the agreement, the platform committed to establishing a legal presence in Nigeria, paying applicable taxes, appointing a country representative and cooperating with authorities on content regulation.

Mohammed acknowledged that while some of the conditions took time to fully materialise, the government believed the measures were necessary to safeguard national security and sovereignty.

The Twitter ban remains one of the most contentious policy decisions of the Buhari administration, frequently cited in debates over digital rights, press freedom and government regulation of social media in Nigeria.

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