SocioEconomic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to use his good offices and leadership position to direct the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, to provide SERAP with a copy of the agreement recently signed with Twitter and to  publish the details of such agreement.

It also urged him to direct Mohammed to clarify the manner and scope in which the agreement with Twitter will be enforced, including whether the agreement incorporates respect for human rights, consistent with the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended) and international obligations.

In a letter, dated January 15, 2022 and signed by SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “Publishing the agreement would enable Nigerians to scrutinise it, seek legal remedies as appropriate, and ensure the conditions for lifting the suspension of Twitter are not used as pretexts to suppress legitimate discourse.

“Publishing the agreement with Twitter would also promote transparency, accountability, and help to mitigate threats to Nigerians’ rights online, as well as any interference with online privacy in ways that deter the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression.

“Nigerians are entitled to their constitutionally and internationally recognised human rights, such as the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, privacy, peaceful assembly and association, as well as public participation both offline and online.

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“Any agreement with social media companies must meet constitutional and international requirements, including legality, necessity, proportionality and legitimacy.

“This means any conditions for lifting the suspension of Twitter must meet the requirements of regular legal processes and limit government discretion. Secretly agreed conditions will fail these fundamental requirements.

“The government has a duty to demonstrate that the conditions for lifting the suspension of Twitter would not threaten or violate the enjoyment of Nigerians’ human rights online, and that the conditions are in pursuit of a legitimate goal in a democratic society.

“SERAP is concerned that the operation and enforcement of the agreement may be based on broadly worded restrictive laws, which may be used as pretexts to suppress legitimate discourse, interfere with online privacy, and deter the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression…”