By Udora Orizu
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently withdraw the conditions imposed on Twitter pending the final determination of the suit at the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja challenging the legality of the suspension of Twitter.
This, SERAP said, is to allow the court render a decision on the central issues in the case and protect the plaintiffs’ rights and interests.
Buhari had stated in his address to mark Nigeria’s 61th Independence Anniversary, that the federal government would only lift the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria if certain conditions, including concerns around national security, are met.
In an open letter dated October 2, 2021 and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said the conditions imposed on Twitter while the ECOWAS case is pending constitute an interference with the right of SERAP and other plaintiffs to fairly and effectively pursue a judicial challenge to the decision by the government to suspend Twitter in Nigeria.
According to SERAP, the conditions make a mockery of the case pending before the ECOWAS court, and create a risk that the course of justice will be seriously impeded or prejudiced in this case.
The letter read in part: “Pushing conditions on Twitter while the ECOWAS case is pending would prejudice the interests of the plaintiffs, undermine the ability of ECOWAS court to do justice in the case, damage public confidence in the court and prejudice the outcome of the case. It is in the public interest to keep the streams of justice clear and pure, and to maintain the authority of the ECOWAS court in the case. If not immediately withdrawn, the conditions would seriously undermine Nigeria’s international human rights obligations including under ECOWAS treaties and protocols and have serious consequences for the public interest.
“Given that the only way in which SERAP and other plaintiffs can have a fair and effective access to justice is to allow the court to decide on the merits of the case before it, fairness and justice must, on the facts of the ECOWAS case, outweigh any stated national security conditions. Your government should allow the ECOWAS Court to decide these issues, especially as the federal government has made the arguments on national security before the court. Judgment in the suit is fixed for 20 January, 2022.”
