*We Didn’t Meet, Dialogue With Mohammed, Fashola, Other Nigerian Ministers, Says Twitter Executive

A SHAREHOLDER in X, Anthony Russell Tatum, has revealed that the administration of Nigeria’s immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, lifted the months-long ban on Twitter (now X), without any solicitation or dialogue with the platform’s executives.

This disclosure is contrary to the narrative and claim by the then Nigerian government two years ago. 

The lies allowed to run unchecked by Twitter, according to Tatum, hampered free speech and had devastating consequences for the micro-blogging site’s shareholders.

In a 119-page-suit filed in Pender County, North Carolina, US, against X and its new owner, Elon Musk, Tatum accused the company, based on the actions of its erstwhile management, of hiding relevant information from shareholders and general recklessness, asserting its alleged failure to proactively disclose take-down requests of unflattering tweets from foreign governments that are hostile to free speech.

Summons for the matter were issued in January this year  against the parties.

Recall that in June 2021, then minister of Information, Lai Mohammed,, announced a Twitter ban shortly after the site deleted Buhari’s tweet for inciting violence, which was deemed a violation of Twitter policy and guidelines.

Angered by the deletion, Buhari cracked down on Twitter, ordering all Internet service providers in Nigeria to restrict people living in the country from accessing the micro-blogging site.

Months later, precisely in January 2022, the Buhari administration reversed the ban, saying the action was due to the outcome of several negotiations with Twitter executives and the site’s decision to abide by certain conditions.

Some of the so-called concessions were taxation and establishing a physical office in Nigeria.

A former Twitter employee, Peiter Zatko, disputed the claims in a whistleblower report to the US Congress that there were no such dialogues. His report made the centre of a lawsuit filed recently in the US.

Tatum relied on the complaint by Zatko, a former vice-president (Security) at Twitter, to bolster his argument against the corporation and its owner.

Even though Musk was not responsible for the accusations, it was still the company he bought; hence the liability was his to take.

When Mohammed got wind of the whistleblower’s claims in 2022 and sought to vitiate them at a press briefing in Abuja in December 2022, he insisted that the Nigerian government had indeed negotiated with Twitter to lift the ban.

He stated: “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 (2022),” while refuting Zatko’s whistleblower report.

The Buhari administration blocked Twitter in June 2021 and then falsely claimed to be in negotiations with Twitter executives.

Tatum alleged that Twitter’s failure to correct the false record on many reported non-existent discussions with the Nigerian government permitted Nigeria to negotiate unilaterally through the media and dictate unfavourable terms for a final resolution.

He asserted that Twitter’s decision to refrain from correcting misinformation about Twitter’s proposed negotiations with the Nigerian government directly harmed Twitter shareholders. 

Not only did Twitter’s inaction egg on the Buhari regime to control and circulate a false narrative, Tatum said in the suit, it also allowed the Nigerian government to impose various conditions on the platform that harmed free expression rights and democratic accountability for Nigerian citizens.