By Emma Obe, Mudiaga Affe, Cajetan Mmuta and Idu Jude
More Nigerians and corporate organisations have continued to condemn the decision of the Federal Government to suspend the operations of Twitter in the country.

The FG’s decision, they said, grossly violated their constitutionally guaranteed right to express themselves and access information without let or hindrance.

The condemnations came as the Federal Government vowed to prosecute Nigerians who use the Virtual Private Networks to circumvent the ban on Twitter.

The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) had, on Saturday, directed the immediate prosecution of offenders of the ban on Twitter operations in the country.

“Malami directed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation at the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, to swing into action and commence in earnest the process of prosecution of violators of the Federal Government De-activation of operations of Twitter in Nigeria.

“Malami directed the DPPF to liaise with the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, National Communication and other relevant government agencies to ensure the speedy prosecution of offenders without any further delay”, the AGF noted in a statement.

Twitter users had complained that the ban could hamper businesses and employment opportunities transacted through the micro-blogging platform and reduce the image of the country in the comity of nations.

Many Nigerian users had tried to reconnect their Twitter handles by using the VPN to bypass the shut down of the platform just as the President, Association of Licensed Private Telecommunications Operators (ALPTO) Gbenga Adebayo, on Saturday, confirmed receiving directives from the Nigerian Communications Commission to restrict access to Twitter.

Twitter has also reacted to the ban on its operations by accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of refusing to grant live press interviews or media chats.

It said via its verified Twitter handle on Saturday, “You’re the only President since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 who never grants live interviews or holds media chats.”

The micro-blogging site, had deleted President Buhari’s tweet last week for failing to meet its community standards. Reacting, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, accused Twitter of undermining the government.This was followed by the the suspension order. Mohammed said Twitter had not advanced similar action to critics of the government, who had also fallen below its community standards.

Meanwhile, a few organisations and individuals have threatened to go to court to challenge the Federal Government to reverse its decision to bar Twitter from operating in the country. They include the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

The NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata, said there was no constitutional or legal authority supporting the ban and said the association would challenge it in court.

SERAP, similarly, said it would sue the Federal Government because the ban was not only illegal but also violated Nigerians’ right to freedom of expression and access to information. The Deputy Director of SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare said, “The suspension of Twitter in Nigeria is a blatant violation of Nigerians’ rights to freedom of expression and access to information. The suspension has the character of collective punishment and is contrary to Nigeria’s international obligations. President Buhari must immediately rescind this unconstitutional suspension. We will see in court if the suspension is not rescinded within 48 hours.”

The 48-hour ultimatum elapses on Monday (today).

However, reacting to the development, the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), in a statement, said the ban was an overreaction by the Federal Government which could win Nigeria more enemies abroad. The NPAN statement entitled, ‘Backtrack from Twitter Ban’, was signed by its President, Kabiru Yusuf.

It said, “Nigeria has retaliated with the cudgel against Twitter for alleged double standard in a hasty sanctioning of Buhari while pampering an unrestrained Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).”

Noting that Twitter as a global platform for public communication, which has benefited Nigerian youths and businesses, NPAN said the ban “would not win us friends as closure of public space limits public discourse and democratic advancement. It is a futile exercise in any case, as other platforms are more likely to suspect Nigeria’s intentions towards democratic tenets and act adversarially towards Nigeria.

“There should be a compromise: Nigeria needs friends and not enemies at this critical juncture of her existence. She should not play into the hands of the enemies who are relentless in seeking to destroy and ostracise her. Banning Twitter is regressive and should be rescinded in favour of dialogue.”

Front-line human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Mike Ozekhome, in a statement on the saga titled, ‘When a Tottering Government Twiddles Twitter’, said, “I have always said that this government has a very thin skin for criticism. It is a government that cannot take punches, but delights in always giving punches to adversaries, real or imaginary.”

He said the ban would only affect the millions of Nigerians not the fortunes of the online platform. Ozekhome added that all the FG was trying to do was to stop Nigerians from telling the world about the atrocities of government against the citizens.

He said,“This is the same government that undeservedly rode to power using the same twitter and other social media platforms it now detests. My humble appeal to this government is that it should go further than this. It should actually suspend or dissolve the Nigerian people which it has become so allergic to and no longer wants to see or hear about.”

A Port Harcourt-based cleric, Chukwudi Eke-Ejelam, said the ban would adversely affect the elite by denying them fundamental rights of relating with their friends and associates. The cleric noted“However, let me ask, why didn’t Donald Trump ban Twitter when he was removed?”

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, who urged the Federal Government to reverse its suspension of the micro-blogging site, noted that the platform was a source of livelihood for many hard working youths even as well as a means of expressing their fundamental human rights.

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, said government should have resolved its issues with Twitter privately. Soyinka, who described the ban as a childish gesture, however, said Nigerians would always work their way around the ban.

A Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Omoruyi Edoigiawerie, said the government was hasty. Edoigiawerie, who said the reason for the ban could be plausible, noted that it nonetheless negated the freedom of expression.

He said, “The rights of Nigerian citizens to use the platform provided by Twitter can be referred to as digital rights that come within the purview of the freedom of expression protected by the constitution.

“It is thus correct to say that digital rights are human rights which cannot be arbitrarily breached or curtailed arbitrarily.

“The United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights unequivocally states that limiting, curtailing, or out rightly disconnecting people from the internet violates their rights. Digital rights under which the use of social media such as Twitter falls are considered to be fundamental human rights.

“The United Nations Human Rights Council in its 2016 resolution resolved that the “same rights that people have off-line must also be protected on-line.”

Nigeria as a member of the United Nations and a member of the Human Rights Council is a signatory to that resolution and is therefore bound by it.

Another legal luminary, Gabriel Ofodile, (SAN) said with the ban, the Buhari administration had lost its reckoning in the comity of nations. Ofodile said, “Does this man know the implications? Does he know how many multinational companies that use twitter for both foreign and local business connections? You see it beats my imagination that our leaders do not know the economic implications of their decisions. Frowning on the President Buhari tweet that ignited the crisis, Ofodile said it would reopen old wounds about the Nigerian civil war.

“It shows that the unity of Nigeria is still a hoax with Buhari being the major propagator. I am really ashamed of whom I call my President,” he said.

A lecturer at the National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja, Dr. Hassan Dunoma, also took on the government over the decision. He recalled that former US President, Donald Trump did not ban Facebook and Twitter when they suspended his social media handles.

The academic said, “As you can see, Nigerians across ethnic backgrounds are calling for the withdrawal of his comments and the ban on the operations of Twitter in Nigeria”.

Similarly, the Chairman, Young Peoples Party (YPP), Mr. Bishop Amakiri, disagreed with the Buhari administration, adding, “My prayer is that the Igbo should not take this to heart because the president’s comment is heartbreaking and you can imagine the amount of reactions it generated to warrant Twitter deleting the post.”

Meanwhile a coalition of civil society organisations, including SERAP and Centre for Social Justice and Global Agenda for Total Emancipation Gate, have asked the authorities to withdraw the ban, claiming that it is a threat to millions of business in the country.

Toeing the same line, the civil rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, said the clampdown had placed the country in the same class with repressive countries like Somalia, Afghanistan, Iran, Cuba and North Korea.

The Intersociety chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, said the ban was part of a plan to stifle the opposition in the country. The group added,“It is saddening and shocking that the country’s leaders have by their latest act further retrogressed and internationally darkened Nigeria and the citizenry including children, wives, relatives, friends and stooges of the leaders.

“Evidentially, the present government has not hidden its contempt for free speech and social communications as it had since 2016 worked hard by way of policy, legislation and conduct to achieve the same.”

A Linguistics lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, Dr. Clement Sadoh, said the decision was a slap on the face of democracy. Sadoh said, “We are in an era of free speech. If you do not agree with the other opinion, you advance a superior argument. If we are not guaranteed free speech, then we are not practising democracy because democracy is founded on free speech”.

Also, leader of the Edo Civil Society Organisation, Samson Edigin, faulted the government action, describing it as undemocratic. He said there was the need for the Buhari administration to have a rethink as the suspension was capable of jeopardising business outfits associated with the on-line platform.

Edigin said, “It is the federal government’s way of stifling the voice of the masses, who depend on the social media to express their views about good governance and other negative activities of those in power and other sensitive issues.

“There are other better ways of doing things like this instead of ban on Twitter because no man is an island. We are living in a global and politically driven economies where social media have come to stay and has created enough positive things that I don’t think that any nation or economy can survive today without the social media.”

Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have in recent years helped to make communication available across borders through social networking. But they have also being a source of concern, especially with regard spreading false, mischievous and fake information that had often led to violence and social crisis.

As a result many countries had taken steps to completely restrict social media networks in their countries or limited their operations. China, Iran and Russia are countries that had banned Telegram, a social networking platform.

No fewer than 60 countries had blocked access to social media sites since 2015, mostly in Asia.

Some African countries have also have restricted access to social media. Such restrictions are seen as a sign of dictatorship. But most of them are also instigated by a rise of misinformation and threats to the government.

Uganda, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Chad and Togo are some African countries that have either blocked or restricted access to social media and there have been an eagerness by some African governments to regulate social media due to the increasing spread of misinformation and incitement of violence.

In Lesotho, social media users with more than 100 followers are required to register as broadcasters.

An attempt to introduce a social media bill in Nigeria was stoutly resisted as its opponents believed that it would give the authorities wild powers to clampdown on freedom of expression. Nigeria has already asked telecoms operators to deactivate access to Twitter.

But many believe the action of the government could negatively impact on its image abroad.

Freedom of expression, which is provided for in the constitution is very well cherished by the Nigerians who are vocal in public and private matters.

Though Twitter is largely seen to be a social media of the elite, its ban could jeopardise this freedom cherished by Nigerians.

Twitter has escaped accountability – Presidency

Initial reactions to the ban were shocking, taking the minds of the people back to 1984 when Buhari as military head of state promulgated the Decree 4, which muzzled the press from publishing embarrassing facts about government officials.

Social media has come in handy for the citizens to check up on news, hold social interactions and even transact business. Many young people also utilize their handles to some profitable advantage. Many people too had had their bank accounts and even social media accounts hacked by unscrupulous fraudsters.