Federal Government Of Nigeria Defiant As ECOWAS Court Stops Nigeria From Prosecuting Users
The Federal Government was defiant yesterday over its suspension of Twitter as the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Abuja, in a landmark ruling, stopped it from prosecuting Nigerians using Twitter.
The Court held that “Any interference with Twitter is considered as interference with human rights, and that will violate human rights.”
The court “restrained the authorities of President Muhammadu Buhari and its agents from unlawfully imposing sanctions or doing anything whatsoever to harass, intimidate, arrest or prosecute Twitter and/or any other social media carrier provider(s), media houses, radio and tv broadcast stations, the plaintiffs and other Nigerians who are Twitter users, pending the hearing and dedication of this suit.”
The ruling followed the suit filed in opposition to the government by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP and 176 worried Nigerians.
They argued that “the illegal suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, criminalization of Nigerians and other people using Twitter have escalated repression of human rights and unlawfully constrained the rights of Nigerians and other people to freedom of expression, get entry to to information, and media freedom in the country.”
The court gave the order after listening to arguments from solicitor to SERAP, Femi Falana(SAN), and lawyer to the government, Maimuna Shiru.