The ECOWAS Court, on Thursday, declared the suspension of Twitter by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration as unlawful.
This is following a suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians,
SERAP deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare made this known in a statement.
According to the statement, the ECOWAS court declared that it has the 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.
“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 held.
The Court also ordered the Buhari administration to take necessary steps to align its policies and other measures to give effect to the rights and freedoms, and to guarantee a non-repetition of the unlawful ban of Twitter.
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The Court also ordered the Buhari administration to bear the costs of the proceedings and directed the Deputy Chief Registrar to assess the costs accordingly.
Recall that the Buhari administration had suspended the use of Twitter in Nigeria after the President’s tweet was deleted by the microblogging platform for violating its rules.
