Nigerian Bar Association sues President Buhari over Twitter ban
The Nigerian government announced a ban on the microblogging site on June 4, leaving social media users in the West African country in a spin.
CAPE TOWN, July 29 (ANA) – The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is suing the country’s President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over the suspension of American microblogging and social networking service Twitter.
The NBA is a non-profit umbrella professional association of all lawyers admitted to the bar in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government banned Twitter on June 4, leaving social media users in the West African country in a spin, with many saying that the government was trying to restrict their freedom of expression.
According to Abuja-based online newspaper Premium Times Nigeria, the bar association approached the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday and argued that the actions and directives of the respondents gravely infringed the fundamental rights of the applicant.
The court adjourned the matter until October 4.
In June, the African News Agency (ANA) reported that the Abuja-based Ecowas Court of Justice, in a landmark ruling, restrained Buhari’s government from prosecuting people for using Twitter.
June’s ruling came after a suit was filed against the Nigerian government by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians, who argued that the suspension of Twitter in the West African country was unlawful, wrote online news publication Vanguard Nigeria.
According to the news website The Tribune Online.com, the current suit, filed on June 18 by the bar association, noted: “Mr Buhari and the other respondents ’unilaterally, without due process and contrary to the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the applicant, suspended the operations of the microblogging and social media website’ in Nigeria.”
Overall, the bar association is seeking 11 reliefs, which include a declaration that the ban or suspension of the microblogging site was unlawful and a declaration that any prosecution of users of the site will be unconstitutional, as reported by the news website Sahara Reporters.com.
Furthermore, the NBA is seeking a declaration that the Twitter ban affects the businesses, employment and economic activities of lawyers and Nigerians generally.
The NBA is also calling for an order mandating all mobile network and internet service providers to unblock the use of the microblogging and social media site in the country.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
