SERAP drags FG to ECOWAS court over Twitter ban

The federal government has been dragged to the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians, over Twitter ban in the country.

The group and the concerned Nigerians filed a lawsuit against the Buhari-led administration over “the unlawful suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, criminalisation of Nigerians and other people using Twitter and the escalating repression of human rights, particularly the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom in the country.”

In the suit filed by Solicitor to SERAP, Femi Falana SAN, the plaintiffs sought for “An order of interim injunction restraining the federal government from implementing its suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, and subjecting anyone, including media houses, broadcast stations using Twitter in Nigeria, to harassment, intimidation, arrest and criminal prosecution pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.”

They also argued that “If this application is not urgently granted, the federal government will continue to arbitrarily suspend Twitter and threaten to impose criminal and other sanctions on Nigerians, telecommunication companies, media houses, broadcast stations and other people using Twitter in Nigeria, the perpetual order sought in this suit might be rendered nugatory.”

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the interim application and the substantive suit.