NCC clarifies role in Twitter ban after FG’s mandate to arrest violators

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed that it does not have the wherewithal to effect arrest and prosecution of violators of the Twitter suspension order.

It was reported that the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had directed the Director of Public Prosecution to liaise with the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, the NCC and other relevant government agencies “to ensure the speedy prosecution of offenders without any further delay.”

However, a statement issued on Monday, June 7, by the Director of Public Affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, clarified that it was not within the power of the NCC 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.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has revealed it may consider capital punishment for railway track vandals in the country, Amaechi disclosed.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, said this during a Town Hall Meeting on ”Protecting Public Infrastructure” on Monday, June 7, in Abuja.

According to Amaechi, rail track vandalism is a capital offense and its consequences should be treated as such.

”I am not quantifying the material cost; what I am quantifying is the lives that will be lost.

”Imagine that a driver of a rail track is driving and suddenly bumps into a track that has been severed what happens? It will derail.

”Each coach in Nigeria carries about 85 passengers, sometimes we carry 14 coaches, sometimes 20.

”So imagine you are carrying a train of 14 or 20 coaches with 85 passengers in each coach; if it derails, can you quantify how many passengers that would have died in the course of one man thinking he is making money.

”Some people have recommended that since these people are killing people if an accident happens people will die; so we should go back to the National Assembly and pass a law that does not only criminalise the action but consequences should be death,” Amaechi said.