By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has weighed into the decision of the federal government to ban social media, Twitter, calling it a move to strip Nigerians of their right to freely express their constitutionally guaranteed opinions.
In a series of tweets, the President of the body, Mr Olumide Akpata, noted that the NBA has noted with great concern the extraordinary decision of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to suspend the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
He noted that the decision calling on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria was yet another disguised attempt to regulate social media, restrict freedom of speech and shrinking civic space.
He said, “Whether one likes it or not, we are operating a constitutional democracy, the primary consequence of which is that everything must be done according to law; government must be conducted within the framework of recognised rules and principles which restrict discretionary power.
“The Nigerian Bar Association finds no constitutional or legal authority to support the peremptory action of the Federal Government to suspend the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
“Beyond the dent on our constitutional democracy, at a time when the Nigerian economy is unarguably struggling the impact of arbitrary decisions such as this on investor confidence is better imagined.
“Consequently, if this decision is not immediately reversed, the Nigerian Bar Association will have no choice but to challenge same in the interest of the public and for the sake of our democracy.”
In a related development, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) said it was taking legal actions against the Nigerian government for the move.
It wrote on Friday via the platform, “ We’re suing Nigerian authorities over their ILLEGAL indefinite suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. Nigerians have a right to freedom of expression and access to information including online, and we plan to fight to keep it that way.
“@NigeriaGov, we’ll see you in court.”
On Friday, the federal government took the decision two days after the social media giant deleted some tweets of the nation’s president for a tweet warning of a return to violence in a civil war that cost millions of lives in the 1960s.
