An ECOWAS Court sitting, on Thursday, ruled that President Muhammadu Buhari violated the human rights of Nigerians when he illegally banned Twitter in June 2021.
Buhari had issued an order to block Twitter in Nigeria after the platform removed his tweets threatening genocide against the Igbo ethnic nationalities of the country’s South-East.
The court said 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.
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.
