The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court has declared unlawful the suspension of Twitter by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, and ordered the administration never to repeat it again.
This is coming after a suit was filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians, according to Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP deputy director.
The Court also stated 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 fair hearing, ” the court stated.
The Court also ordered the Buhari administration 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.
Following the deletion of President Buhari’s tweet, Lai Mohammed. the Minister of Information and Culture announced the suspension of Twitter in the country. The government also threatened to arrest and prosecute anyone using Twitter, while the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) asked all broadcast stations to suspend their patronage of Twitter.
However, in the judgment delivered today, the ECOWAS court declared that it has the jurisdiction to hear the case, and that the case was therefore admissible.
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The Buhari administration was also ordered by the court to bear the costs of the proceedings and directed the Deputy Chief Registrar to assess the costs accordingly.
“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 Abubakar Malami SAN, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, from prosecuting Nigerians who defied the Twitter ban, SERAP deserves special commendation for pursuing the matter to a logical conclusion,” Femi Falana, SAN SERAP lawyer said.
The suit which was filed read in part: “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 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.”
