BREAKING: Twitter Ban: Again, U.S. Accuses Buhari Of Blocking 40m Nigerians’ Free Speech

The United States has again condemned the suspension of Twitter by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

This is coming days after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, after a closed-door meeting with the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, the United States, European Union, Ireland and Canada, explained that the government suspended Twitter because it wanted it to be a more responsible tool.

This followed a joint statement the diplomatic envoys had issued describing the the federal government’s ban on Twitter as a “disappointment”.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria floated another comment by Samantha Power, an administrator at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), saying that suppressing the freedom of expression of about 40 million Nigerians was counterproductive.

She further called for immediate reversal of the suspension.

“There are nearly 40 M Twitter users in #Nigeria, and the country is home to Africa’s largest tech hub. This suspension is nothing more than state-sanctioned denial of free speech and should be reversed immediately,” she stated.

Recall that Onyeama had said that the envoys were very important partners to Nigeria.

The USAID is a US government agency that supervises foreign aid and development assistance to countries including Nigeria.