TheCable

The minority caucus in the national assembly has asked Nigerians to keep using Twitter.

The minority caucus comprises majorly members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Last week, the federal government announced a ban on the social media service over an allegation that it is threatening the “existence of the country”.

The suspension came after Twitter took down a controversial tweet of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement on Wednesday, Enyinnaya Abaribe, senate minority leader, and Ndudi Elumelu, house of representatives minority leader, said no one is violating any law by using Twitter.

They lamented that Nigeria is losing “billions of naira on daily basis since the ban on twitter”.

“The Joint Minority Caucus also dismisses threats by the APC-led government to arrest and prosecute Nigerians using twitter and calls on Nigerians to go ahead and use their twitter as they would not be contravening any law in Nigeria or any international statute,” the statement said.

“The Joint Minority Caucus recognizes the provisions of Articles 19 and 20 of the United Nations Charter on Fundamental Human Rights, which Nigeria is a signatory to, as well as provisions of Sections 39 and 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and notes that by these provisions no one will be violating any law for using twitter in Nigeria.

“As lawmakers, the joint caucus is pained by the anguish Nigerians, especially the youths, who find the use of twitter as a means of livelihood and genuine social interaction, are passing through just because the APC-led federal government feels slighted that an individual’s post, was deleted by Twitter for ethic violation.

“The joint caucus therefore call on Nigerians to use various opportunities offered by technology and continue making use of twitter since such does not violate any law in our country.”

They asked the government to settle its issue with Twitter instead of “inflicting pains on Nigerians”.