Greg Nash/Pool via REUTERS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
- Nigeria suspended all Twitter operations in the country on June 4.
- Twitter recently removed a tweet by the Nigerian president, saying it violated its "abusive behavior" policy.
- Twitter was not immediately available for comment.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The Nigerian government suspended all Twitter operations in the country on Friday.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Nigerian minister of information and culture, said the decision stemmed from citizens using the platform for activities "capable of undermining Nigeria's corporate existence," according to a press release.
The move follows Twitter's decision to remove a post by Nigeria's president Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish those responsible for recent attacks on electoral offices and police stations, and referenced the country's 1960s civil war that killed 1 million people, Reuters reported.
"Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand," Buhari said in a tweet before Twitter removed the post for violating its "abusive behavior" policy.
Nigerian citizens have been protesting against the country's Special Anti-Robbery Squad police unit, known as SARS, since late last year. Human rights group Amnesty International published a report suggesting SARS had committed at least 82 acts of torture, ill-treatment, and extra-judicial execution between January 2017 and May 2020.
Nigeria responded to protestors by opening fire at a peaceful demonstration, leading to several deaths, according to Amnesty International.
Twitter was not immediately available for comment.