The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has called on the government of Nigeria to immediately ensure the execution of the judgment of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) community court of justice on the illegality of the Twitter ban.
In the recent judgment, the ECOWAS court ruled that the indefinite suspension of access to Twitter in Nigeria by the government in June 2021 was unlawful and violated the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The court directed the government to undertake an act of legislative or other measures on its rules regarding Twitter to enable the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression guaranteed under the African Charter and asked it to guarantee a non-repetition of the unlawful ban of Twitter.
In a statement to Development Diaries, MRA reminded the Nigerian authorities that under the revised ECOWAS treaty and protocol of the ECOWAS court, judgments of the court are binding on Nigeria as a member state and as such must be executed with immediate alacrity.
‘Media Rights Agenda (MRA) today called on the federal government to immediately take measures to ensure the execution of the judgment of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, which ruled on July 14, 2022, that the indefinite suspension of access to Twitter in Nigeria by federal government in June 2021 was unlawful and violated the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)’, the statement read.
‘In the light of the provisions and the judgment of the court, Nigeria [is] under a legal obligation to amend its laws and policies to bring them into conformity with the African Charter and the ICCPR as well as to guarantee that the suspension of Twitter would not re-occur, as directed by the court’.
The Nigerian government announced the suspension of activities on Twitter in the country after the social media company deleted a tweet from the official account of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Nigerian government accused Twitter of allowing its platform to be used ‘for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence’.
However, a group of civil society organisations (CSOs) and journalists including, MRA, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), the International Press Centre (IPC), and Tap Initiative for Citizens Development (TICD), asked the ECOWAS court to declare the indefinite suspension of Twitter in the country a violation of their human rights.
Photo source: Paul Kagame
