Nigeria lifts Twitter suspension after agreeing to several conditions

Nigeria lifted the suspension on social network Twitter imposed seven months ago after the platform agreed to conditions imposed by the government, officials said Wednesday.

"President Muhammadu Buhari approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter's operations in Nigeria with effect from midnight tonight," the country's authorities said in a statement released late on Wednesday and reported in local media.

Last October, Buhari announced in a speech to the nation to mark the 61st anniversary of Nigeria's independence that the suspension would be lifted if the company agreed to a series of conditions.

Those conditions, he said, related to "national security and cohesion", "fair taxation" and the "registration, physical presence and representation" of the US company, as well as "conflict resolution" and "local content".

In this regard, the statement said that "Twitter has committed to comply with all conditions set by the Federal Government of Nigeria".

The company has agreed, among other things, to appoint a national representative to communicate with the country's authorities and to "comply with the tax obligations applicable to its operations under Nigerian law", the authorities said.

The Nigerian government on 4 June "indefinitely" suspended the microblogging platform's service on its territory for "persistent use of the platform for activities that could undermine the legal existence" of the country, Africa's most populous with some 200 million inhabitants.

A few days earlier, the social network had deleted a post by Buhari himself in which he condemned the attacks on various buildings in the southeast of the country - police stations, prisons and offices of the Electoral Commission - for which the government blamed the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group that is calling for the secession of that part of the country.

In his tweet, the president, who served as a general in the 1967-70 civil war with the secessionist provinces of Biafra, said that "many of those who are acting badly today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of life that occurred during the war".

"Those of us who were on the (battle) field for thirty months, who lived through the war, will deal with them in the language they understand," he added.

As documented by local media, numerous Twitter users denounced the publication and criticised the president for comparing the attacks to an armed conflict that killed up to 100,000 military personnel, while between 500,000 and two million civilians perished from starvation.

In a statement, Twitter explained that the head of state's tweet violated its rules, which prohibit content that incites or promotes violence against an individual or a group of people.

The government's suspension was criticised by many Nigerians and activists as a crackdown on free speech, as well as a blow to the country's economy that has caused huge losses.