*Twitter operations remain illegal, banned in Nigeria – FG
“Twitter as an entity is not an organization of any member state as it is an American microblogging networking service. The suspension of Twitter in Nigeria is not a right recognized under any treaty enforceable by this Court.”
A few hours to the hearing of the suit by SERAP and 176 Nigerians, the Buhari administration filed and served a preliminary objection, claiming that “The subject matter of this suit is not for the enforcement of any human right recognized by this Court.” The preliminary objection was dismissed by the ECOWAS Court.
The Federal Government’s objection, read in part: “Particulars: The subject matter of the SERAP suit relates to the indefinite suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. This is not in any way connected to any Nigerian or SERAP. Individual user’s Twitter accounts are not suspended.”
“The right to freedom of expression is completely different from freedom of reach. The suspension of Twitter does not fall under the provisions of arts 8 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
“Twitter as an entity is not an organization of any member state as it is an American microblogging networking service. The suspension of Twitter in Nigeria is not a right recognized under any treaty enforceable by this Court.
“Twitter is a profit-making entity which can be proscribed/dissolved in compliance with any national laws. The compulsory shut down of an entity cannot be termed the breach of any fundamental rights by this Honourable Court.
“The suspension of Twitter in Nigeria is in compliance with the provisions of sections 420, 419 of the Penal Code [Northern Nigeria]; Federal Provisions Act, and section 58 of the Criminal Code Act. The operation of Twitter is in violation of Nigerian domestic legislation.
“Ground Two: This court lacks the jurisdiction to determine the criminalization of an act under Nigerian laws. The subject matter of the SERAP suit borders on the criminalization of Twitter operation in Nigeria pursuant to the Penal Code and the Criminal Code.
“The use and operation of Twitter in Nigeria constitutes the offences of Importation of Prohibited publication under sections 420 and 421 or the offence of possession of seditious articles under section 419 of the Penal Code Federal Provisions Act.
“In any event there is a right of action vested in the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, the said right vests directly on Twitter and not individual users of Twitter. This is more so that individual user’s Twitter accounts were not tempered but only the operation of Twitter.
“Nigerians and SERAP have no cause of action. The suspension of Twitter in Nigeria is in compliance with the provisions of sections 420, 419 of the Penal Code and section 58 of the Criminal Code, and sections 78 and 79 of CAMA 2020.”
Twitter operations remain illegal, banned in Nigeria – FG
In the meantime, it has been gathered that the Federal Government believes that it has a constitutional duty to enforce the law of its country to the letter, saying it owes no responsibility to Twitter which, as far as reality is concerned, is illegal organisation in Nigeria and that the country cannot be ruled by laws of multinationals, no matter how power they may be.
Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday, said this adding that Nigeria as a sovereign country cannot be ruled by either the policies or laws of a multinational corporation no matter “how powerful” it may be.
He said that Nigeria also has a responsibility to protect its national security.
The Minister spoke at an interactive session with the members of the House of Representatives’ Joint Committees on Information, ICT and Justice, probing the circumstances of the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government of Nigeria early this month suspended the activities of Twitter, citing national security as its main reason.
The suspension, however, came barely 48 hours after the microblogging platform deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari, in which he warned the terrorist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) members who had been ambushing soldiers, killing them and other security officers and destroying setting police stations and prison facilities on fire, setting inmates free as well as carting away weapons, thereby imposing insecurity on the South East of the country under the disguise of secession.
Twitter surprisingly was ostensibly orchestrating the successful outing of the terrorist group as it allowed their inciting tweets to continue but deleted those of the President, government or any Nigerian who did not align with IPOB’s destructive posts that were also equally causing crisis and deaths in parts of the country, especially in South East and Rivers State.
Because any serious country must not allow such to continue as it has responsibility to secure its land and people, Nigeria’s Administration of Muhammadu Buhari told the microblogging social media networking platform “enough” but it failed to heed the warning of authorities and the power in the land descended on it, The DEFENDER recalls.
Surprisingly, a public outcry that ensued came mainly from political elites, especially one particular senator that is senate minority leader, lawyers, civil societies such as SERRAP, journalists, many leaders of the same South East, the where IPOB-imposed insecurity had already led to panic with calls flying to President Muhammadu Buhari to rise to the situation with a view to ending the insecurity. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was also chief in the terrorism backing and standing against government over the action taken against Twitter to safeguard the sovereignty of the country.
The media among the anti-state in the outcry were creating the impression that under 24 hours of the Twitter ban, Nigerians had lost N2 billion, a joker bought by Governors of Oyo and Benue states, Seyi Makinde and Samuel Ortom, respectively, who described the action of the government as illegal and they threatened to continue the use of the platform in disobedience to the directives of Federal Government.
Amnesty International had also launched a petition and was gathering signatures to push for Nigeria to lift the ban on Twitter’s operations as if it thinks that the country is a pushover and not the sovereign nation that it is; amidst all of these came Tuesday the news of ECOWAS Court restraining the Federal Government from acting against Twitter, The DEFENDER was told by an angry citizen, who said, “and guess who went to that court; SERRAP, one of those so-called anti-corruption NGOs taking money from America to destabilize their own country like they have another place to run to.”
He said: “What they, especially opposition PDP and Amnesty International wanted to do was for America, Europe and United Nations to take a common stand and impose sanctions against the Nigeria, forgetting that the man in power is Muhammadu Buhari, who has finally recovered the dignity of the entity and restored Nigeria to its rightful position in the comity of nations. They will be the ones to come begging.” He said.
The DEFENDER/The Eagle Online
