Twitter Ban: Court Orders FG To Disclose Agreement With X

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the Ministry of Information and Culture to make public the agreement between the federal government and X, formerly Twitter.

Justice Dimgba held that the disclosure would allow the plaintiff in the suit, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), to assess whether the agreement complies with the exercise of Nigerians’ human rights online.

LEADERSHIP reports that SERAP had approached the court through a Freedom of Information suit number FHC/L/CS/238/2022, seeking an order to compel the Ministry of Information and Culture, and the then minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to give details of the arrangement that led to the lifting of the federal government’s ban on the social media platform.

In the judgement, Justice Dimgba held that the disclosure of the details of the agreement between the Nigerian government and Twitter is in the public interest, does not affect Twitter’s business interest as a third party, and is prejudicial to Nigeria’s sovereignty and national security.

The court also held that the agreement between the Nigerian government and Twitter must still be disclosed irrespective of the harm to Twitter if it would be in the public interest to make such disclosure.

The judge further dismissed the objections raised by the minister’s counsel and upheld SERAP’s arguments. Consequently, the court entered judgment in favour of SERAP against the minister.

Justice Dimgba maintained that the minister failed to prove that the president had followed due process of law to designate Twitter as a critical national information infrastructure based on the National Security Adviser’s recommendation, and issued an order in the Federal Gazette.

He also stated that the disclosure of the Twitter agreement is not prejudicial to Nigeria’s sovereignty and national security or protected by the Official Secrets Act, as the minister had failed to prove.

The judge held, “It is my view that the disclosure of the agreement details as requested by SERAP will not interfere with the commercial interests and trade secrets of Twitter or lead to financial losses to it, as the former minister has failed to prove the same.

“Besides, Section 15(4) of the Freedom of Information Act envisages only natural and not hypothetical financial loss or gain to, or prejudice to, the competitive position of or interference with contractual or other negotiation of a third party like Twitter which could be affected by the disclosure.

“No evidence was placed before this Court pointing to the fact that Twitter has an agreement with another country as a precondition for its operation in such jurisdiction as obtainable in Nigeria.

“I believe that SERAP has a legitimate reason to wish to be availed of the agreement, which is to understand how the deal affects them and other Nigerians as far as the protection of the human rights of Nigerians is concerned.”

He further contended that in most cases, the need for national security outweighs public interest, including protecting fundamental human rights.

“In this case, however, I believe that the minister’s refusal to disclose the agreement does not come within the need to protect national security and sovereignty,” he added.

According to him, the minister’s defence is predicated on the Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention Act) 2015 but that he failed to prove how the Act relates to the Twitter agreement.

Reacting to the judgement, Femi Falana, SAN, lauded the the judgement.

“We commend Justice Dimgba for this landmark judgment. This is a judicial confirmation of Nigerians’ rights to freedom of expression and access to information online. We call on President Bola Tinubu’s government to implement the judgment immediately,” he said.

On his part, SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare described the “ground-breaking judgement is a victory for freedom of expression and privacy online, which is central to achieving individual freedom and developing democracy.