By Jacob Kubeka (ABUJA) –
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has set up a special committee of five cabinet ministers to open discussion with microblogging site, Twitter, whose operations in the country were recently banned by the Federal Government.
The committee is made up of the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Minister of Communication & Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige and; Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama.
They have been asked by the President to dialogue with Twitter over the indefinite ban clamped on its operations for alleged interference in the affairs of the Nigerian Government.
Minister of Information & Culture, Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this in a statement today, said:
“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the composition of the Federal Government’s team to engage with Twitter over the recent suspension of the operations of the microblogging and social networking service in Nigeria.”
“The Federal Government’s team also comprises the Attorney General of the Federation and Honourable Minister of Justice, Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Honourable Minister of State for Labour and Employment as well as other relevant government agencies.
“Following the indefinite suspension of its operations in Nigeria, for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate
existence, Twitter wrote to President Buhari seeking to engage with the Federal Government over the suspension, with a view to charting a path forward.”
The announcement of the dialogue team came shortly before the ECOWAS Court of Justice restrained the Federal Government of Nigeria from prosecuting alleged violators of the recent ban it placed on the use of Twitter in the country.
In a landmark ruling it gave today in Abuja, the ECOWAS Court “restrained the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and its agents from unlawfully imposing sanctions or doing anything whatsoever to harass, intimidate, arrest or prosecute Twitter and/or any other social media service provider(s), media houses, radio and television broadcast stations, the Plaintiffs and other Nigerians who are Twitter users, pending the hearing and determination of this suit.”
The ruling followed the suit filed against the government by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians arguing that “the unlawful suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, criminalization of Nigerians and other people using Twitter have escalated repression of human rights and unlawfully restricted the rights of Nigerians and other people to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom in the country.”
The court gave the order after hearing arguments from Solicitor to SERAP, Femi Falana SAN, and lawyer to the government Maimuna Shiru.