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Nigeria's Twitter ban: What impact will it have?

Is Nigeria's ban on Twitter an assault on free speech?

Last Friday the government announced the move - which has been condemned by the EU, US and UK - after Twitter removed a tweet by President Buhari referring to the country's civil war four decades ago and pro-Biafra groups.

Mobile phone networks blocked access after being ordered to do so, but some users are managing to continue to tweet.

Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director of the Paradigm Initiative which offers digital opportunities to young people across Africa, says they are right to do so - and that it's the government which is behaving badly.

"Guess what? The only people who have been muted right now appear to be the government themselves. Yes, some businesses are not tweeting because clearly they do not want to be punished, but the citizens they were trying to proscribe are still tweeting."

(Photo: A hand holding a phone showing the Twitter logo on the screen. Credit: Getty Images)

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