The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court has declared suspension of Twitter operations by Nigerian Government from June 2021 till January 2022 as illegal.
In it’s judgment delivered on Thursday, ECOWAS Court affirmed that it has the jurisdiction to hear the suit case filed by the Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and other 176 concerned Nigerians, in reaction to the suspension, announced by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in June last year. It said the case is admissible.
According to the court rulings, “The Buhari administration in suspending the operations of Twitter violates the rights of SERAP and other 176 concerned Nigerians to the enjoyment of freedom of expression, access to information and the media, as well as the right to fair hearing.
“This act 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,” it said.
The Court thus ordered present administration to further ensure its policies and measures does not have negative effect on citizens rights and freedoms, and should guarantee a non-repetition of the unlawful ban of Twitter.
It later ordered the Federal Government to bear the costs of the proceedings and directed the Deputy Chief Registrar to assess the costs accordingly.”
It could be recalled that the Nigerian government had announced the ban after a tweet by the President was deleted by the social media platform for violating its policies. It had also threatened to arrest and prosecute anyone using the platform with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) also asking all broadcast stations to suspend the patronage of Twitter.
This action made SERAP and others to sue the government.
However, while Reacting to the court verdict, Femi Falana, SAN SERAP lawyer in the suit 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 community to freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, “ he declared.
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