Breaking: ECOWAS Court declares Buhari’s twitter ban unlawful

Following a challenge filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians, the ECOWAS Court “found unconstitutional the suspension of Twitter by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, and ordered the administration never to repeat it again.”

SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare announced the news today.

Following the deletion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet, Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, announced the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. The government has also threatened to arrest and punish everyone in the nation who uses Twitter, while the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has instructed all broadcast stations to halt their support for Twitter.

However, the ECOWAS court determined today that it had jurisdiction to hear the case, and that the case was therefore admissible.

The Court also held 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.

According to the Court, “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 also ordered the Buhari government to take the necessary steps to align its policies and other measures to give effect to rights and freedoms, as well as to ensure that the unconstitutional Twitter ban does not occur again. “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.”