Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS’ Court on Thursday declared the federal government’s suspension of Twitter as unlawful.
The court also ordered the federal government led by President Muhammadu Buhari never to repeat it again.
Recall that the federal government had suspended the micro blogging site after it deleted a controversial tweet by President Buhari. But months later, the government lifted the ban following widespread protest.
However, following a suit by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and 176 concerned Nigerians, the court overruled the government.
In the judgment, the ECOWAS court declared that it has the jurisdiction to hear the case, and that the case was therefore admissible.
The Court also held that the act of suspending the operation of Twitter is unlawful and inconsint with the provisions of Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights both of which Nigeria is a state party
It ordered the Buhari administration to take necessary steps to align its policies and other measures to give effect to the rights and freedoms and to guarantee a non-repetition of the unlawful ban of Twitter.
The Court also asked the government to bear the costs of the proceedings and directed the Deputy Chief Registrar to assess the costs accordingly.