Monday, August 17, 2026

Speaker Gbajabiamila shuts down motion to lift Twitter ban

Mr Gbajabiamila said that a committee had already been set up by the House to investigate the matter.

• June 8, 2021
The Speaker of House of Reps, Femi Gbajabiamila and Kingsley Chinda
The Speaker of House of Reps, Femi Gbajabiamila and Hon. Kingsley Chinda

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila on Tuesday shut down a point of order seeking to lobby the federal government to lift the Twitter ban.

Representative Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers), in a point of order on Tuesday, asked the House to lobby the executive arm of government to lift the twitter ban on the microblogging site pending the when the committee set up to look into the ban concludes its investigation.

He argued the ban infringed on the rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression.

Shutting down the point of order, Mr Gbajabiamila said that a committee had already been set up by the House to investigate the matter.

Mr Gbajabiamila, citing section six of the House rules explained that it was against the rule of the house to re-visit a motion that had already been deliberated upon.

The House had earlier on Tuesday asked its committees on communication, justice, information and culture, and national security and intelligence to investigate controversies surrounding  the suspension Twitter by the Buhari regime on Friday.

While announcing the ban on Friday, Information minister Lai Mohammed said Twitter was a platform that raised national security concern because it had been used to spread false information and “activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

On Saturday, Attorney-General Abubakar Malami sought to enforce the ban by threatening to arrest and prosecute anyone who tweets in Nigeria.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Showbiz

Kamsy emerges third housemate evicted from BBNaija Season 11

Her departure came as a fresh reminder that popularity inside the house does not necessarily translate into enough public votes.

Sport

Cameroon beat Malawi 3-0 to win first WAFCON title

Cameroon thus became the fourth nation to win the WAFCON, joining record champions Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and South Africa.

Alake at Nigeria Gold Day Celebration event

NationWide

Alake warns illegal operators against mining abandoned pits

The minister said the tragedy could have been averted if the illegal miners formed a cooperative and applied for the necessary permit.

States

Police arrest Kogi man for setting wife on fire

The state Commissioner of Police, Naziru Kankarofi, condemned the attack, describing it as “barbaric and unacceptable.”

Showbiz

Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ rakes $2 billion at global box office

Marvel and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has grossed $2 billion at the global box office after only three weeks in theatres