Twitter suspension: SERAP takes Buhari govt to ECOWAS court

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians have filed a lawsuit against the government of President Muhammadu Buhari 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 before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, SERAP and the concerned Nigerians are seeking “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.”

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In the suit filed by Solicitor to SERAP, Femi Falana SAN, the plaintiffs contend 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.