Lai Mohammed Defends Twitter Ban, Calls Platform ‘Reckless’ Threat to National Security

Former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has defended the Federal Government’s suspension of Twitter (now X) in Nigeria, insisting the move was necessary due to the platform’s “reckless” conduct and the threat it posed to national security.

Speaking on Channels Television ahead of the launch of his book Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments that Defined an Administration, Mohammed said the ban was not aimed at silencing dissent but at curbing the spread of fake news, hate speech, and disinformation capable of undermining national unity.

“I started the campaign against fake news and disinformation in 2017. I knew the dangerous dimension it was taking. An unregulated social media space was becoming a threat to society,” Mohammed explained.

He added that despite repeated warnings, Twitter had become a preferred platform for individuals and groups seeking to inflame tensions and threaten cohesion. “When we suspended Twitter, it was because it was becoming reckless. We warned them several times. Social media had reached a stage where it was becoming dangerous to everybody,” he said.

Mohammed dismissed claims that the ban was a reaction to the deletion of a tweet by former President Muhammadu Buhari or an attempt to suppress opposition voices, emphasizing that the decision followed prolonged government engagements with the platform. “The President asked me only one question: do I think a country should do so? And I said yes, based on our discussions and the risks we were seeing,” he added.

He noted that Twitter was not registered to operate in Nigeria at the time of the suspension, and that the subsequent agreement it signed with the government validated the action. “Twitter was not registered in Nigeria to do business. The agreement they later signed with us, which is contained in this book, is evidence that we did the right thing,” Mohammed stated.

Highlighting the dangers of unregulated social media, Mohammed contrasted it with traditional media, which has editorial gatekeepers. “You must not push freedom to the extent that you set one part of the country against the other. We saw how social media was used to direct attacks on institutions,” he said, referencing court proceedings during the trial of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu.

He added that Twitter’s operations were restored only after it agreed to meet government conditions, including local registration and compliance with Nigerian laws. Mohammed described his book as an insider account of how narratives were shaped during the Buhari administration and the rationale behind difficult communication decisions.

“This is about documenting history from an insider’s viewpoint — how decisions were made, how misinformation overshadowed facts, and how media was used to shape national narratives,” he said.

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