ECOWAS Court declares Nigeria’s Twitter ban unlawful
The court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Thursday declared Nigeria’s suspension of Twitter operations in the country on June 5,2021 illegal.
The federal government had suspended Twitter in Nigeria following the removal of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet by the organization.
Announcing the suspension, Nigeria’s Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, had directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to direct all broadcast stations to stop using Twitter and threatened to detain and prosecute anyone found using Twitter in the country.
The government’s action was however challenged by a civil society organization, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians.
Delivering judgment, the court held that the suspension of Twitter’s operation by Nigeria violated both Article 19 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, both of which Nigeria is a state party.
The Court ordered the federal government 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 the Buhari administration to bear the costs of the proceedings and directed the Deputy Chief Registrar to assess the costs accordingly.
“The Court found unlawful the suspension of Twitter by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, and hereby orders the administration never to repeat it.
“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 ECOWAS Court ruled.
Femi Falana, SERAP’s lawyer, in reaction to the judgment, commended the Court for what he described as a landmark decision.
He said, “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 ECOWAS will henceforth respect and uphold the human rights of the community to freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
“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 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.”
The plaintiffs had filed the suit marked: ECW/CCJ/APP/23/21 before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja.
They had sought: “An order of interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from implementing its suspension of Twitter in Nigeria.
They also sough to restrain the government from 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.
