The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has, in a ruling on Tuesday 22 June 2021, restrained the Buhari administration from imposing unlawful sanctions or “harass” or “prosecute” Twitter and other social media platforms, its users, and other parties.
The ruling follows the lawsuit filed against the Federal Government by, a human rights watchdog, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), and 176 concerned Nigerians.
ECOWAS, in its ruling, said that it “restrained the government 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 service provider(s), media houses, radio and television broadcast stations, the Plaintiffs and other Nigerians who are Twitter users, pending the hearing and determination of this suit.”
The court added that it had “listened very well to the objection by Nigeria. The court has this to say. Any interference with Twitter is viewed as inference with human rights, and that will violate human rights. Therefore, this court has jurisdiction to hear the case. The court also hereby orders that the application be heard expeditiously. The Nigerian government must take immediate steps to implement the order.”
Legal representative of SERAP, Femi Falana, after the ruling, said, “The intervention of the ECOWAS Court is a timely relief for millions of Nigerians using Twitter who have been threatened with prosecution under the provision of the Penal Code relating to sedition.
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“Contrary to the assurance credited to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN that violators of the Twitter would not be prosecuted, the Federal Government filed processes in the ECOWAS Court threatening to prosecute Nigerians using Twitter for violating the suspension under the provisions of the Penal Code relating to sedition.”
“It is extremely embarrassing that the Federal Government could threaten to jail Nigerians for sedition, which was annulled by the Court of Appeal in 1983, in the case of Arthur Nwankwo vs The State.”
Recall that the Federal Government, earlier in June, had suspended the operations of Twitter after a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari was removed.
In the tweet, Buhari had mentioned the 1967 Civil War where the targeted subjects of the attack were the people in the Southeast of the country, with a predominantly Igbo population.
The sensitiveness of the tweet had stirred conversations on Twitter among Nigerians, leading to a massive reporting of the tweet and the subsequent taking down.
Conversations around the socio-economic impact of the ban trailed the government’s decision, with experts denouncing the ban and stating the ripple effect it would have.
The Federal Government, in turn, accused Twitter’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jack Dorsey, of being responsible for the loss of lives at the Lekki Toll Gate on 20 October 2020 during the EndSARS protest.
This was according to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who said that Dorsey’s support for Nigerian protesters, asking people “to donate money via bitcoins for EndSARS protesters”, makes him “vicariously liable for whatever is the outcome of the protest.”
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