By: Yusuf Balogun
The recent Tweeter ban by the led administration of President Muhammad Buhari is an infringement on citizens right to freedom of expression as guarantee under the constitution of the country. The indefinite suspension which came in to force on Friday evening 4th of June, when the Minister of Information and Culture posted in the ministry’s official Twitter handle that the Federal government of Nigeria has indefinitely suspended Twitter’s operations in the country.
Prior to the suspension, the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter had earlier deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to them, the tweet was widely perceived as offensive and in violation of rule number 4 of the microblogging and social networking service, which deals with safety and freedom.
President Buhari in the controversial tweet noted that: “any of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us…who went through the war will treat them in the language they understand.” The wordings swiftly construed by Nigerians as been a threat to commit genocidal.
But with the help of Virtual Private Networks, the suspension has done little to refrain Nigerians from using the microblogging site. And because the ban has done significant harm, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, ordered the prosecution of Nigerians who are still using the site.
While the government may be enraged as to how it’s supposed sanctions is escaped, and will like to punish those who flaunt its orders, one question begging for answer is that what specific law will the Justice Minister invoked to prosecute the alleged offenders?
In his response, the spokesperson to the Minister of justice, Umar Gwandu, said that the alleged violators would get to know in court. That’s outrageous.
