Paradigm Initiative Nigeria has criticised the Federal Government of Nigeria for shutting down Twitter operations in the country, tagging it as “a brazen abuse of fundamental human rights.”
PIN told Financial Street on Saturday, “The directive by the Nigerian government is, at its core, an abuse of the rights of Nigerians not just to freedom of expression, but many other rights guaranteed in the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“This suspension, which is the government’s reaction to the company’s enforcement of its platform rules, is aimed at insulating the government from criticism, especially by Nigerian youth who are over 70 per cent of the country’s population.”
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, had, on Friday, barred the operations of the social networking service, citing persistent use of the platform for activities capable of undermining the country’s corporate existence, an action many believe was not unconnected with the deletion of a tweet where he threatened genocidal violence against the Igbo over insecurity.
Twitter had claimed that Buhari’s message violated its conditions.
According to the social advocacy group, it is evident that shutting down Twitter is illegal, stressing that illegitimate policies such as this are unacceptable.
It said, “A 2016 United Nations resolution affirms that the rights that citizens have offline must apply online. Coincidentally, this resolution was co-sponsored by Nigeria.”
The group, therefore, urged the Nigerian authorities to respect and enforce citizens’ fundamental rights as provided for by the country’s constitution and international human rights treaties that Nigeria is a party to.
“We will further contact the Ministry of Information to get exact details of this announcement, and the legal framework that supports such undemocratic pronouncement.
“We advise all users of Twitter and other social media platforms in Nigeria to download Vvirtual Private Networks to enable them continue to use the platforms for their economic survival as well as social and political engagements while we all push back on this draconian order by the Nigerian government,” PIN added.
