* Twitter suspends Boko Haram, NDA, 360,000 other accounts
Gunmen
suspected to be Niger Delta militants have blown up oil facilities at
Owhrode community, Udu Local Government Area of Delta State.
The
scene of the incident is about 20 kilometres from the venue of the
one-day stakeholders’ meeting of the six coastal states of the Niger
Delta, which was convened to proffer solutions to the ongoing militancy
in the region.
The
meeting, being held at the PTI, was convened at the instance of Ijaw
leader, Chief Edwin Clark and it has in attendance Governor Ifeanyi
Okowa, traditional rulers and leaders of the various ethnic
nationalities in the region.
Clark said the meeting would discuss the recent activities of militant groups and proffer solutions to the challenge.
As
at the time of filing this report, only Governor Okowa (Delta) is
present, while others, including Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seriake Dickson
(Bayelsa), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Ben Ayade (Cross River) and Adams
Oshiomhole (Edo) were still being expected.
The stakeholders are expected to issue a joint communiqué at the end of deliberations.
Local
community sources confirmed the development, saying about two pipelines
operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company were affected in
the incident which occurred at about 2am.
A new militant group, Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, sources said, was behind the attack.
A
technical team of NPDC and security officials have been deployed to the
area to prevent the spread of crude to other communities.
Meanwhile,
there are indications that Twitter may have suspended the accounts of
Boko Haram and the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), ostensibly owing to the
groups’ nefarious tendencies in Nigeria.
The said suspension comes on the heels of reports that a total of 360, 000 other accounts have been blocked since 2015.
Reports
also say eighty per cent twitter handles are being suspended, even as
Twitter may have attributed the development partly to “spam-fighting”
platforms.
According
to reports, Twitter may have made meaningful progress on the following
scores: shortening the amount of time that violators are on Twitter,
reducing their followers, and disrupting the ability of strangers to
immediately return to Twitter.
This
was as the online platform was also quoted to have empowered its team
to review issues of extremism, as it has also enhanced partnership with
law enforcement agencies, international non-governmental organisations,
and other social media-related platforms.
A few months ago, another popular social media platform, Facebook also blocked access to the site by the NDA.
Credit:newtelegraph
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