Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said that the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, will decide whether or not to prosecute the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye; the Founder and General Superintendent of Deeper Life Christian Ministry Worldwide, Pastor William Kumuyi; and others, who have violated the ban on Twitter by the Federal Government.
The Minister said this during an interview with BBC News Africa on Monday evening.
Recall that Adeboye tweeted on Monday that his church is present in over 170 countries and tweeting is in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
A few hours later, Kumuyi also tweeted that his church has branches across more than 99 countries and five continents, therefore it can tweet from anywhere in the world.
When asked if the government would prosecute Kumuyi and Adeboye for defying its Twitter ban, Lai Mohammed said, “The Attorney-General has made it clear that if anybody violates the regulation that such a person will be prosecuted and this is not about any particular person. It is in the realm of the Attorney-General to decide who or who not to prosecute.”
Mohammed also said there would be no human rights if the country goes on fire.
The Minister said, “It is because there is a country called Nigeria that they have rights at all. If the country goes on fire, and there is insecurity everywhere, then, there will be no rights for anybody.
“Are we supposed to use Twitter to increase insecurity?” Mohammed asked, adding that agents of destruction have chosen Twitter as a platform to destabilize the corporate existence of Nigeria.”
Aside the two clerics, some Nigerians, including the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, have continued to dare the government by tweeting through Virtual Private Networks, leaving security operatives confused on how to arrest the thousands of violators.