The ECOWAS court sitting today at Abuja has directed the federal government to immediately lift the ban it placed on social micro-blogging platform, Twitter.
The ruling follows a petition brought before it by a collection of civil society bodies which argued that the government’s action was an infringement on people’s right to expression. Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Serap and over 170 other Nigerians had dragged the federal government to court.
In its ruling, the court directed that no government must not sanction, harrass, intimidate or arrest anyone for using the platform despite its ban placed on it.
Meanwhile, President Buhari has directed the Minister of Communications, Lai Mohammaed along with other relevant ministries to immediately begin negotiations with Twitter over the ban. The committee is led by Lai Mohammed with Abubakar Malami, Babatunde Fashola, Isa Pantanmi, Godfrey Onyeoma and Festus Keyamo.
