The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP)
has sued President Muhammadu Buhari for the failure to publish the Federal
Government of Nigeria’s agreement with Twitter.
Joined in the suit as Respondent is Lai Mohammed, Minister
of Information and Culture who announced the ban on Twitter in June 2021.
The organization noted that Mohammed replied to its freedom
of information request but the response was “completely unsatisfactory, as he
merely stated that the details are in the public space”.
Nigeria lifted the suspension in January, stating that the
social media platform “agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgement of
Nigerian laws and the national culture and history”.
In suit FHC/L/CS/238/2022 filed at the Federal High Court in
Lagos, SERAP is asking the court to compel Buhari and Mohammed to make the
details public.
The rights group said this would enable Nigerians scrutinise
it, seek legal remedies and ensure that the conditions are not used as pretexts
to suppress the people.
SERAP is also arguing that the disclosure would promote
transparency, accountability, help to mitigate threats to the rights of
Nigerians online and interference with online privacy and freedom of
expression.
The suit filed by Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabi
insists Nigerians are entitled to their human rights, peaceful assembly and
association, public participation on and off the internet.
“The operation and enforcement of the agreement may be based
on broadly worded restrictive laws, which may be used as pretexts to suppress
legitimate discourse.
“Any agreement with social media companies must meet the
constitutional requirements of legality, necessity, proportionality and
legitimacy.
“Secretly agreed terms and conditions will fail these
fundamental requirements”, the suit read in part.
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