ECOWAS Court Adjourns Judgment On Nigeria’s Twitter Ban To January 2022
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice, Abuja, has adjourned the hearing on Twitter ban in Nigeria to January 2022, a civil society group, Social Economic and Rights Accountability Project, stated.
SERAP made this known in a post via its Twitter handle on Wednesday.
The post reads: “Twitter ban: The ECOWAS Court of Justice, Abuja heard arguments today in our suit. The push for adjournment by the Federal Government was rejected by the court, following objections by SERAP lawyer, Femi Falana SAN. The case is fixed for judgment on 20th January 2022.”
President Muhammadu Buhari had on June 4, announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter’s operation across the country following the deletion of Buhari’s tweets.
The Nigerian government has however blamed the suspension on “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.
The government also in August, said it had made “tremendous progress” in resolving the impasse following a series of meetings and that an “an amicable solution is very much in sight”.
“I think even Twitter itself two days ago gave what I will call a progress report on our talks with them. And I think if I want to quote them rightly, it has been productive and quite respectful,” Mohammed said at the time.
He continued, “And as to how soon is soon, right? I want to assure you that between the time that Twitter operation has been suspended, and when it will be restored is by far, much, much shorter.
“In other words, if the operation has been suspended for about 100 days now, I can tell you that we’re just actually talking about a few, just a few more days now.
“I can assure us that we’re mindful of the anxiety of Nigerians and both parties are working very hard to put a closure on the matter. And like Twitter itself said, the changes have been very, very productive on both parties. Honestly, we have gone very far. I won’t be specific but we have gone very far, and honestly, it’s just going to be very, very soon, just take my word for that.”
A few days ago, SERAP urged the General Assembly of the United Nations to use its power to order President Muhammadu Buhari to lift the indefinite suspension of the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
The group asked the International body to speak for the fundamental rights of Nigerians noting that “the freedom to expression whether offline or online is a fundamental right” which should not be tampered with.
This was contained in its tweet on its official Twitter page as President Buhari addressed the General Assembly on Friday.
SERAP tweeted that, “BREAKING: We urge @UN General Assembly to put pressure on President Buhari to immediately lift the illegal suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. Freedom of expression offline and online is a fundamental right.
“The General Assembly should stand up for Nigerians #StandUp4HumanRights.”
President Buhari has since received different criticisms from individuals and advocacy groups following the suspension of the micro-blogging site across the country.
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