The Twitter ban lawsuit against the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has been won by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 Nigerians.
The suspension was ruled illegal by the ECOWAS Court, and the Nigerian government was warned not to do it again.
Following Wednesday’s court session, Kolawole Oluwadare, the deputy director of SERAP, declared the victory.
Following the removal of President Buhari’s tweet in 2021, the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria was announced by Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information.
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) requested all broadcast stations to stop using Twitter as a source for news while the government issued threats to detain and prosecute users.
The court stated in the judgement that it had jurisdiction to hear the case and that it was therefore admissible.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ Article 9 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’ Article 19 were both cited by the court as being unconstitutional and out of sync with Twitter’s suspension.
According to the court, the government’s actions infringe on 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 a fair hearing.”
The court commanded the Buhari administration to take the required actions to align its policies and other measures to give effect to the rights and freedoms and to ensure a non-repetition of the unlawful ban.
In addition, the court ordered the Buhari administration to cover the costs of the case and charged the Deputy Chief Registrar with oversight.
Femi Falana, the attorney for the applicants, praised the judges for unanimously upholding the citizens of the community’s right to freedom of expression and access to information.
Freedom of expression, according to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is essential to a vibrant civil society as well as being the foundation of democracy.
Falana expressed the hope that West African countries “will going forward 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.”
