June 12th Protest: Nigerians send out Over 1.4 Million Tweets Demanding a Twitter Ban Reversal

Currently trending on popular social media platforms is #June12thProtest, as Nigerians, multiple civil rights, and other activist groups hold nationwide protests to commemorate Democracy Day June 12 while demanding the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari and the reversal of a government ban on Twitter.

On Twitter alone which is banned in Nigeria, the topic has attracted over 1.4 million tweets worldwide with Nigerians who now have to use VPNs to tweet trooping out en masse to partake in the #June12thProtest, as protests rock Ibadan, Lagos, Abuja, Akure, Jos and Portharcourt in Nigeria.

As expected, there are reports of altercations with police reportedly fire tear gas at protesters at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in Lagos, one of the venues of the June 12 Democracy Day protest.

Also Read: Nigeria Bans Twitter 2 Days After President’s Post was Removed

The Nigerian government said it had indefinitely suspended Twitter’s activities 6 days ago after the microblogging site removed a post from Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari in which he threatened to punish regional secessionists.

“The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria.” read a statement from the Nigerian Government on Twitter.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the government moved to suspend the social media platform due to “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”

To further rile up the citizens of Nigeria, the Nigerian Government swore to prosecute anyone found breaching the ban on the social media firm.