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ECOWAS Court declares Twitter ban unlawful

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Economic Community of West African States’ Court has declared “unlawful” the suspension of Twitter by the Federal Government.

The court also ordered the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), “never to repeat it again”.

This followed a suit by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and 176 concerned Nigerians, according to SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria following the deletion of Buhari’s tweet.

Then the FG also threatened to arrest and prosecute anyone using Twitter in the country, while the National Broadcasting Commission asked all broadcast stations to suspend the patronage of Twitter.

But in the judgment delivered on Thursday, the ECOWAS court declared that it has the jurisdiction to hear the case, and that the case was therefore admissible.

The Court also held that the act of suspending the operation of Twitter is unlawful and inconsistent with the provisions of Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights both of which Nigeria is a state party.

“The Buhari administration in suspending the operations of Twitter violates the rights of SERAP and 176 concerned Nigerians to the enjoyment of freedom of expression, access to information and the media, as well as the right to a fair hearing,” the court ruled.

The Court also ordered the Buhari’s regime to take necessary steps to align its policies and other measures to give effect to the rights and freedoms and to guarantee a non-repetition of the unlawful ban of Twitter.

The Court also ordered Buhari’s regime to bear the costs of the proceedings and directed the Deputy Chief Registrar to assess the costs accordingly.

Reacting to the judgment, SERAP’s lawyer in the suit, Femi Falana, SAN, said, “We commend the ECOWAS Court for the landmark judgment in the case of SERAP v Federal Republic of Nigeria in which the Judges unanimously upheld the human rights of community citizens to freedom of expression, and access to information.

“Even though the Court had granted an interim order of injunction last year which restrained the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN from prosecuting Nigerians who defied the Twitter ban, SERAP deserves special commendation for pursuing the matter to a logical conclusion.

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and the full enjoyment of this right is central to achieving individual freedom and to developing democracy. It is not only the cornerstone of democracy, but indispensable to a thriving civil society.

“With the latest decision of the Court to declare the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria illegal it is hoped that the Heads of State and Governments of the member states of the Economic Community of West African States will henceforth respect and uphold the human right of the community to freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.”

Politics

Buhari replaces NBC Director-General amid Twitter ban

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President Muhammadu Buhari, has approved the appointment of Balarabe Shehu Ilelah as the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the appointment in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

He the appointment of Ilelah, a veteran broadcaster “is for a tenure of five years in the first instance.”

Ilelah replaces erstwhile DG, Prof Armstrong Idachaba, amid the Twitter ban.

Recall that the NBC had directed broadcast stations to deactivate their Twitter accounts shortly after the ban issued by the Federal Government.

Politics

Nigeria needs Twitter – Senate President breaks silence on Twitter ban

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President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has broken his silence on the suspension of Twitter by the federal government.

According to Lawan, the country needs Twitter as much as the social networking service needs Nigeria.

Speaking with journalists at the national assembly in Abuja on Friday, he said the senate is optimistic that the federal government and Twitter will eventually resolve their differences.

The honorable minister of information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, informed Nigerians that they are talking with Twitter to resolve this matter. Our belief is that Nigeria needs Twitter just as much as Twitter needs Nigeria.

We believe that the matter between Twitter and the federal government of Nigeria will be resolved.

“But beyond that, I’m an optimist, I believe all of us will have learnt our lessons,” the Senate President said.

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, announced the suspension of the social media platform a week ago.

But when the national assembly resumed sitting on Tuesday, the senate, unlike the house of representatives, kept mum over the ban.

Politics

Buhari dragged to ECOWAS court over Twitter ban

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Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians have filed a lawsuit against the government of President Muhammadu Buhari over “the unlawful suspension of Twitter in Nigeria.

Information and Culture minister, Lai Mohammed last week announced the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria days after the social media platform deleted Buhari’s tweet for violating its rules.

The government has also threatened to arrest and prosecute anyone using Twitter in the country, while the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has asked all broadcast stations to suspend the patronage of Twitter.

At the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, SERAP and the concerned Nigerians are seeking, “An order of interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from implementing its suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, and subjecting anyone including media houses, broadcast stations using Twitter in Nigeria, to harassment, intimidation, arrest and criminal prosecution, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.”

In the suit filed by the solicitor to SERAP, Femi Falana, the plaintiffs contend that “if this application is not urgently granted, the Federal Government will continue to arbitrarily suspend Twitter and threaten to impose criminal and other sanctions on Nigerians, telecommunication companies, media houses, broadcast stations and other people using Twitter in Nigeria, the perpetual order sought in this suit might be rendered nugatory.”

The suit read; “The suspension of Twitter is aimed at intimidating and stopping Nigerians from using Twitter and other social media platforms to assess government policies, expose corruption, and criticize acts of official impunity by the agents of the Federal Government.

The free communication of information and ideas about public and political issues between citizens and elected representatives is essential. This implies a free press and other media able to comment on public issues without censor or restraints, and to inform public opinion. The public also has a corresponding right to receive media output.

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and the full enjoyment of this right is central to achieving individual freedom and to developing democracy. It is not only the cornerstone of democracy but indispensable to a thriving civil society.

The arbitrary action by the Federal Government and its agents have negatively impacted millions of Nigerians who carry on their daily businesses and operational activities on Twitter. The suspension has also impeded the freedom of expression of millions of Nigerians, who criticize and influence government policies through the microblogging app.

“The suspension of Twitter is arbitrary, and there is no law in Nigeria today permitting the prosecution of people simply for peacefully exercising their human rights through Twitter and other social media platforms.

“The suspension and threat of prosecution by the Federal Government constitute a fundamental breach of the country’s international human rights obligations including under Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 19 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.

“The suspension has seriously undermined the ability of Nigerians and other people in the country to freely express themselves in a democracy and undermined the ability of journalists, media houses, broadcast stations, and other people to freely carry out their professional duties.

A lot of Nigerians at home and abroad rely on Twitter coverage of topical issues of public interest to access impartial, objective and critical information about ideas and views on how the Nigerian government is performing its constitutional and international human rights obligations.

“The implication of the decline in freedom of expression in Nigeria is that the country is today ranked alongside countries hostile to human rights and media freedom such as Afghanistan, Chad, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe and Colombia.”

Politics

Speaker, Gbajabiamila shuts down motion to reverse Twitter ban

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Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Tuesday shut down a request seeking the federal government’s reversal of the ban on Twitter.

Kingsley Chinda, a PDP lamwker from Rivers state, in a point of order, asked the House to lobby the executive arm of government to lift the ban on the microblogging site, Twitter pending when the committee set up to look into the ban concludes its investigation.

He argued the ban infringed on the rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression.

Shutting down the point of order, Gbajabiamila said when a matter had been concluded and ruled upon, it cannot revisited.

He said; “It will be out of order to attempt to reconsider any specific matter which the House has concluded upon… unless there is a substantive motion.

“The matter has been sent to relevant committees of the House to investigate, and they will report to us in 10 days.

“Even though you have got a motion here, we would have referred it to the same committee, the motion would have been killed. You have not complied with order 9 rule 6, you are rued out of order.”

Undeterred, Chinda insisted on his demand, leading to a rowdy session. He subsequently led other PDP members as they staged a walk out during plenary.

Speaking with journalists after the walkout, Chinda, who is the leader of the PDP caucus, said the speaker’s ruling on the matter should have been debated to reflect the opinion of the lawmakers.

“Let me commend the decision of the leadership of the house to mandate relevant committees to investigate the ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria.

“We just want to add that the federal government should lift the ban pending the outcome of the investigation,” he said.

Politics

House of Reps summon Lai Mohammed over Twitter ban

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The House of Representatives on Tuesday, summoned the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed over the suspension of Twitter’s operations in Nigeria.

Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila announced the summon on Tuesday morning during plenary.

A joint committee of the House, Commerce, Information and National Ethics, and Justice, was mandated to carry out an investigation within 10 days.

Gbajabiamila said; “The House of Representatives recognises that Twitter, like other social media networks, is an important tool for communication and commerce in Nigeria, particularly amongst the younger generation who have used these networks for enterprise and innovation with great success.

It is in service of our obligations under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and our moral duty to the Nigerian people, that the leadership of the House has decided to mandate the House Committees on Communication, Justice, Information and Culture, and National Security and Intelligence to immediately commence an investigation to determine the circumstances of the decision by the Federal Government of Nigeria to suspend the operations of Twitter in Nigeria, and the legal authority for the ban on the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.

“The Committees are additionally mandated to invite the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to brief the House of Representatives on the objectives, intent, and duration of the suspension on the operations of Twitter in Nigeria, and to report to the House within ten days.”

Politics

FG summons UK, US, other envoys for condemning Twitter ban

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The Federal Government has summoned the envoys of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland and the European Union in Nigeria over their recent comments condemning the suspension of microblogging site, Twitter in the West African country.

This was made known in an invitation issued to pressmen on Monday morning by Kimiebi Ebienfa of the Crisis Monitoring and Public Communications Division of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“I am directed to inform that following the recent ban on Twitter by the Federal Government and Press Statement issued by some Heads of Diplomatic Missions Accredited to Nigeria on the subject matter, the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency, Geoffrey Onyeama has invited the affected Ambassadors to a meeting today at 12 noon.

The venue is Minister’s Conference Room, 8th Floor.

“You are hereby invited to cover the meeting. Thanks for your usual cooperation,” the invite read.

In a joint statement on Saturday, Canada, EU, UK, US, and the Republic of Ireland expressed disappointment over the Nigerian government’s suspension of Twitter.

The statement was titled, ‘Joint Statement From The Diplomatic Missions Of Canada, The European Union (Delegation To Nigeria), The Republic Of Ireland, The United Kingdom And The United States Of America’.

It read; “The diplomatic missions of Canada, the European Union (Delegation to Nigeria), the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America convey our disappointment over the Government of Nigeria’s announcement suspending #Twitter and proposing registration requirements for other social media.

“We strongly support the fundamental human right of free expression and access to information as a pillar of democracy in Nigeria as around the world and these rights apply online as well as offline.

“Banning systems of expression is not the answer. These measures inhibit access to information and commerce at precisely the moment when Nigeria needs to foster inclusive dialogue and expression of opinions, as well as share vital information in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The path to a more secure Nigeria lies in more, not less, communication to accompany the concerted efforts of Nigeria’s citizens in fulsome dialogue toward unity, peace and prosperity.

“As Nigeria’s partners, we stand ready to assist in achieving these goals.”

Nigeria’s Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Saturday, ordered the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation to prosecute offenders contravening the government’s Twitter ban.

Politics

Twitter ban is a violation of our human rights – Desmond Elliot

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Nigerian actor turned politician, Desmond Elliot, has reacted to the Federal Government’s decision to ban Twitter’s operations in Nigeria.

On Friday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the indefinite suspension in a statement released by his Special Assistant on Media, Segun Adeyemi.

The statement read in part; “The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria.

“The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

In a Twitter thread, Elliot who represents Surulere at the Lagos State House of Assembly called on the federal government to reverse the suspension stating that the ban, ‘no matter the reasons proffered tramples upon our fundamental rights as people.’

He said; “I want to admonish our government to always remember that the people’s right to express themselves freely must not be compromised. This ban, no matter the reasons proffered tramples upon our fundamental rights as people.”

Elliot reminded the government that Nigerian youths trade their wares and advertise their businesses and services via the micro-blogging site.

He added; “In a democratic society like ours, we must weigh the economic and social impact of this ban on the populace — especially our teeming youths and entrepreneurs who depend solely on this platform to carry out their legitimate business.

“In the past, our government have shown the required goodwill to stand on side of the people even when it’s not too convenient for them to do so. I believe that this won’t be an exception. I want to appeal to the government to reconsider this ban in the interest of our people and our country at large.”

Politics

Twitter ban: The right of Nigerians to freely express themselves must be respected – Sweden warns FG

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The Swedish Government have reacted to the suspension slammed on microblogging platform, Twitter by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

In a tweet on its official handle, Sweden called on President Muhammadu Buhari to respect ‘freedom of expression.’

It noted that Nigerians have a constitutional right to exercise their freedom of expression and a right to access of information.

The tweet reads, ”Nigerians have a constitutional right to exercise their freedom of expression and a right to access of information.

This must be respected. Safeguarding free, independent media and civic spaces for democratic voices is an important part of Sweden’s #DriveForDemocracy #TwitterBan”

Just a few days after Twitter deleted Buhari’s controversial ‘civil war’ tweet, the federal government suspended Twitter’s operations in a statement on Friday.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the government was forced to act because of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

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