Government says the sacrifice was worth it

Even as Buhari’s aides return with “welcome back” tweets, Nigerians are either ignoring the Twitter ban or reminding everyone that it was a wrong move in the first place.

Amnesty International insists it was illegal and “an attack on the right to freedom of expression.”

But Nigeria’s government said the “shared national sacrifice” produced “immeasurable” gains, like extracting revenue from Twitter’s operations, and reducing cybercrime. The merits of such arguments are open to debate. For now though, lifting the ban means more Nigerians can freely join online conversations around events like the Africa Cup of Nations and, more importantly, the campaign season ahead of the 2023 presidential elections.

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