The Federal Government has rejected claims that it never negotiated with Twitter over the suspension placed on the microblogging site in June last year, providing evidence of correspondence confirming talks between both sides.
The government suspended Twitter access in the country with major telecoms networks two days after Twitter removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish secessionists.
Following the indefinite suspension, Twitter, wrote to the President seeking to engage with the federal government over the action.
With the President’s approval, a negotiation team was raised comprising the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Works and Housing, Minister of State for Labour and Employment as well as other relevant government agencies.
Nigerian lifted the suspension in February this year following the President’s approval of a memo by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim, based on the Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation.
Whereas the federal government said the suspension was lifted because the tech company had agreed to meet all six of its conditions laid out, a former member of Twitter’s senior executive team, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, said the government’s claim is false.
He made the disclosure to the US Federal Trade Commission under Whistleblower Aid.
Zatko was employed as “security lead”, in the senior executive team responsible for information security, privacy, physical security, information technology, and Twitter Service (the corporate division responsible for global content moderation enforcement) at Twitter, Inc. from November 16, 2020, until the morning of January 19, 2022.
Zatko alleged that after blocking Twitter in June 2021, the Nigerian government went ahead to falsely claim to be in negotiations with Twitter executives.
He had stated: “Twitter’s failure to correct the false record on many reported non-existent discussions with the Nigerian government permitted Nigeria to negotiate unilaterally through media and dictate unfavourable terms for final resolutions.”
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, countered him on Monday in Abuja at the 13th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari Scorecard that featured the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen.
He said: “Before I yield the podium to today’s guest, please permit me to
react to the requests from the media seeking our response to the published allegation credited to a former Twitter staff that Twitter did not negotiate with the Nigerian Government in the wake of the
suspension of the microblogging site.
“This claim is so ludicrous that one could just have ignored it. But the claim has continued to make the rounds online, hence our decision to clarify things, After all, it is said that if a lie is repeated
often enough, people will believe it.
“Without mincing words, let me say that there was a long-drawn negotiation between Nigeria and Twitter, at the instance of the latter, following the suspension of the platform on June 4th 2021 because of its persistent use for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence
“Seven days after the suspension, precisely on June 11th 2021, we received a letter, addressed to Mr President, from Twitter’s Vice President in charge of Public Policy, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Sinead McSweeney, seeking to meet with us on the Twitter suspension.
“That letter kick-started a number of activities that culminated in extensive negotiation. A copy of that letter is displayed on the screens here and will be made available to gentlemen of the press.
“After the letter, the Federal Government announced its team to discuss with Twitter.
“The team, chaired by the Minister of Information and Culture, also comprised the Attorney General of the Federation and
Honourable Minister of Justice, Honourable Ministers of Communications and Digital Economy; Foreign Affairs as well as Works and Housing, Honourable Minister of State for Labour and Employment and the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency.
“Following the composition of our team, we received another letter from a group, Albright Stonebridge Group, which apparently was working at the behest of Twitter. The letter (which is also projected on the screens and is available to the media), named the Twitter team to enter into a discussion with Nigeria. The team was headed by Sinead Sweeney, Twitter’s Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa, whom I mentioned earlier; Karen White, Senior Director, Public Policy,
Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa; Ronan Costello, Senior Public Policy Manager, Africa, Europe, Middle East; Emmanuel Lubanzadio, Head of Public Policy, Sub-Saharan Africa; Jim Baker, Deputy General Counsel and Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Senior Adviser, Albright Stonebridge Group.
“The back-and-forth negotiation culminated in a series of agreements that paved the way for the lifting of the Twitter suspension in January this year.
“Gentlemen, with the facts that we have supplied, you can now see that the fellow who reportedly alleged that Twitter did not negotiate with Nigeria is either being economical with the truth or didn’t even understand the workings of the company where he worked.”
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