The Ecowas Court on Thursday ruled that President Muhammadu Buhari violated the rights of Nigerians when he illegally ordered the restriction of Twitter in June 2021.
The regional court said Mr Buhari’s action was unlawful and in defiance of Article 9 of the African Charter and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The case was instituted by different civil liberties advocates and media rights practitioners following the controversial and illegal disruption of the social network giant in Nigeria that began on June 4, 2021.
Mr Buhari issued the ordered to block Twitter in Nigeria after the platform removed his tweets threatening genocide against the Igbo ethnic nationalities of the country’s South-East.
It received global condemnation, and organisations and individuals, including Peoples Gazette as represented by our Managing Editor Samuel Ogundipe, filed the lawsuit.
Mojirayo Ogunlana-Nkanga, an Abuja based legal practitioner, instituted the case on behalf of the groups, who highlighted individual damages emanating from the unconstitutional restrictions.
Buhari regime officials said the administration ordered the ban because Twitter had become a force for negative tendencies in Nigeria, but failed to cite legal grounds for its action.
