Two Civil Society Organizations have asked the Federal Government to rescind the ban on the operations of microblogging platform, Twitter.
The organizations, One Love Foundation, and Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), said they would institute legal actions against the government if it did not grant their requests.
OLF in a statement on Saturday said the ban infringed on the constitutional rights of Nigerians to access information. It gave the government 48 hours to reverse the ban.
Their request was contained in a letter addressed to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, which was signed by its lawyer, Ihensekhien Samuel Jnr, for the President and Founder, Patriot Patrick Eholor.
“We are this evening in receipt of the announcement by the federal government of Nigeria over the banning from Nigeria airspace, of the worldwide microblogging site with acronym name as www.twitter.com,” the statement said.
The Foundation said that the government’s action was without any legal and reasonable reasons or justification. Rather, it noted that the citizens’ rights to impart and receive information as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution have been taken away because of the ban.
“Our group, One Love Foundation is an NGO committed to the promotion, defense of human rights, equality of all citizens and justice for every citizen all over the world,” it explained.
“Consequently, this act by the FG of Nigeria without any legal and reasonable reasons/justification is not only illegal, unconstitutional but tends to drive fear in the eyes of ordinary Nigerians, that their enshrined rights to impart and receive information, are not only being threatened but look as if they are being taken away from them by this FG ban of Twitter in this regard.
“We, as a group hereby politely request the FG of Nigeria, to subsequently in good faith withdraw forthwith the ban of Twitter in this regard, as the economic, socio and other benefits of www. twitter.com are so numerous to Nigerians in this regard and hence this ban is not only untenable but is done in bad faith at this point in time.
“However if this our demands as stated above are not adhered to within 48 hours, failure of which, we shall be constrained to challenge this action of FG ban of www. twitter.com at the ECOWAS court and when the JUSUN strike is over at the Federal High court also, as we hope the wise counsel will prevail in this matter.”
On its part, SERAP Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) condemned what it called the “illegal and unconstitutional suspension of Twitter’s Operations in Nigeria,” and called on “the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately rescind the suspension within 48 hours or face legal action.” Its statement was issued late on Friday following the pronouncement of the ban.
SERAP said these in a statement by its deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare
“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,” it said.
Continuing, SERAP said:
“Suspending Twitter in Nigeria would deny Nigerians’ access to information, and disrupt the free exchange of ideas and the ability of individuals to connect with one another and associate peacefully on matters of shared concern. It would also seriously undermine the ability of Nigerians to promote transparency and accountability in the country, and to participate in their own government.”
“We call on the Nigerian authorities to guarantee the constitutionally and internationally recognized human rights of Nigerians including online. Deletion of President Buhari’s tweets should never be used as a pretext to suppress the civic space and undermine Nigerians’ fundamental human rights.”
