The Nigerian Communications Commission has revealed that arresting and prosecuting Nigerians defying the Federal Government’s order against the use of Twitter is not within its jurisdiction.

WUZUPNIGERIA reported that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had given a directive for the immediate prosecution of persons who still use Twitter after its ban.

Despite the restriction which has been effected by telecommunications companies and internet service providers, affected Nigerians are able to access Twitter using Virtual Private Network (VPN) services that can work around network restrictions.

However, in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday,  the Director of Public Affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, said it was not within the jurisdiction of the commission to arrest or prosecute.

“The NCC is a regulator. It is not within our power to arrest or prosecute. Based on our statement, we limited ourselves based on the order given to us by the government, which was to instruct the operators to disconnect, which was what we did. So, the other aspects are not within our purview,” Adinde said.