Dozens of Nigerians and a local rights group have filed a lawsuit at a regional court seeking to lift the government’s ban on Twitter, describing the decision to suspend the hugely popular social media platform’s operations as an attempt to silence criticism of the government.
Authorities announced the ban on Friday, two days after Twitter removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists.
The government’s move prompted an immediate backlash among social media users and human rights activists, with #NigeriaTwitterBan and #KeepitOn trending on the platform as Nigerians used virtual private networks to access the site. The government has said those who continued to use Twitter would be prosecuted.
On Tuesday, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a local rights group, and 176 Nigerians filed the lawsuit at the Economic Community of West African States Community Court of Justice in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, calling for an interim injunction restraining government from implementing the ban.
“The suspension of Twitter is aimed at intimidating and stopping Nigerians from using Twitter to assess government policies, expose corruption, and criticize acts of official impunity by the agents of the Federal Government,” the suit read, according to the group.
Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP’s deputy director, said the ban “negatively impacted millions of Nigerians who carry on their daily businesses and operational activities on Twitter,” calling it “final proof of shrinking civil space in Nigeria and the intention of government to stifle any dissenting voice”.
‘Erratic decision’
In 2021, Nigeria ranked 120th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index.
Africa’s most populous country has been celebrated as one of the few on the continent attracting investment into its tech ecosystem but was recently shunned when Twitter chose neighbouring Ghana for its first African headquarters.
Gbenga Sesan, executive director of the Paradigm Initiative, a pan-African social enterprise working on digital inclusion and rights, told Al Jazeera the suspension of Twitter sent the wrong signal to foreign investors, adding that small businesses using Twitter as a source of livelihood in Nigeria would be affected.
“Businesses in Nigeria use digital media to reach customers, expose their brands and communicate with various stakeholders. That will definitely be affected by this erratic decision,” he said.
Information minister Lai Mohammed told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the suspension had nothing to do with Buhari’s tweet being deleted, but rather with “separatists inciting violence” online.
“Regulating social media is not about stifling press freedom. All we are talking about is the responsible use of these platforms,” said Mohammed, adding that Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube were still accessible.
Nigeria joined countries such as China, North Korea and Iran in issuing a ban on Twitter, while Uganda, Turkey and Egypt have suspended the app during elections or political unrest.
The United States-based company said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned” as access to the internet was “an essential human right in modern society” and it “will work to restore access for all those in Nigeria who rely on Twitter to communicate”.
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Nigerians launch legal action against government’s Twitter ban
Monday, June 7, 2021
Controversial Nigerian pastor TB Joshua dies aged 57
The preacher, popularly known as TB Joshua, founded The Synagogue Church of All Nations, a Christian megachurch in Lagos.
The father of three was one of Africa’s most influential preachers with millions of television and social media followers. More than 15,000 people from Nigeria and abroad attend his Sunday services.
“God has taken his servant Prophet TB Joshua home … His last moments on earth were spent in the service of God,” the church wrote on its Facebook page on Sunday, without giving further details.
One of the pastor’s lawyers Olalekan Ojo also confirmed his death.
“I confirm that the man of God, pastor TB Joshua passed away on Saturday after his evening programme,” Ojo told AFP news agency.
Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from the Nigerian capital Abuja, said the preacher was one of the most respected pastors in Africa’s most populous country.
“He rose to prominence in the 1990s at a time when there was an explosion of televangelism in Nigeria and many parts of Africa. He was one of the most followed preachers in Nigeria and [across] Africa,” Idris said.
He was also popular in South America where he had held many religious campaigns.
Controversies
TB Joshua was known for making predictions and for his claims to cure various ailments and to make people prosper through miracles.
He was, however, controversial, with critics questioning his claims and saying he profited from people seeking hope.
According to Forbes, he had an estimated fortune of several million dollars.
Many African presidents, senior government officials, international football players, musicians and other high-profile guests have worshipped in his church.
In September 2014, the guest house of the church collapsed, killing more than 100 people, most of them foreigners who were in Nigeria to attend his services.
While authorities say the building collapsed because of structural defects, TB Joshua insisted the building was blown up by a small plane that he claimed flew over it shortly before it came down.
In April, the pastor’s YouTube channel, which has more than 1.8 million subscribers and 600 million views, was shut down over allegations of hate speech against LGBTQ people.
In one of his videos, watched more than 1.5 million times, a woman is seen being hit violently to “cure” her of her sexuality.
Homosexuality is illegal in Africa’s most populous country, and “homosexual acts” can carry a 14-year prison sentence.
Facebook had also removed several videos on Joshua’s page, which has more than 5.7 million followers, for his anti-LGBTQ remarks.
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Violence in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara state spawns humanitarian crisis
Rising insecurity in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Zamfara has spawned a humanitarian crisis, International aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday.
Gunmen, often riding motorcycles, have attacked towns in the northwest in recent years, forcing thousands to flee across the northern border to Niger. Attackers have attained global notoriety through mass kidnappings at schools, abducting more than 800 students since December.
MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said the security situation had worsened in the last few months. It referred to an increase in reports of kidnappings, killings, armed robbery and sexual violence in the region.
The medical group said its teams in Zamfara, one of the states worst hit by the violence, treated 10,300 children in the first four months of 2021 for ailments including severe malnutrition, measles, and respiratory infections. It said the number of children treated was 54% higher than in the same period last year.
“Our teams in Zamfara state have witnessed an alarming rise in preventable illnesses associated with a lack of food, drinking water, shelter and vaccinations,” said MSF doctor Godwin Emudanohwo.
Rising violent crime in the northwest has compounded the challenges faced by Nigeria in northern states which are typically poorer than those in the south of Africa’s most populous country of about 210 million.
A decade-old Islamist insurgency in the northeast has killed more than 30,000 people and forced at least 2 million to flee their homes, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
Reuters
Related story: Nigeria’s president threatens rebels amid rising violence in southeast
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Video - Nigeria internationals Iheanacho, Ndidi enjoy fruitful season at Leicester
Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi propelled Leicester City to win their first-ever English FA Cup in the just concluded season. The pair also inspired the Foxes to a fifth finish in the English Premier League. CGTN's Deji Badmus now looks back at a rewarding campaign for the Nigerian internationals.
Nigeria’s president threatens rebels amid rising violence in southeast
People who promote insurrection in Nigeria face a “rude shock”, its president warned on Tuesday, raising the possibility of a fierce crackdown on rising violence in the southeast that has included arson attacks on police station and electoral offices.
Security forces are already grappling with criminal gangs in the northwest who carry out mass kidnappings for ransom, a decade-old Islamist insurgency in the northeast, and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea off Nigeria's southern coast.
Electoral offices and police stations have been burned down in recent months across the southeast, a region where armed gangs have carried out a series of killings of police officers, prompting a police operation in May.
Nigerian authorities have blamed those attacks on a banned separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and what police call its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network. But the IPOB has repeatedly denied involvement.
The statement issued by the office of President Muhammadu Buhari, who previously led Nigeria as a military ruler in the early 1980s, said "a rude shock" awaits "those bent on destroying the country through promoting insurrection, and burning down critical national assets".
It referred to the 1967-70 civil war fought over the secession of an area in Nigeria's far southeast called Biafra that killed one million people.
"Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through (that) war, will treat them in the language they understand. We are going to be very hard sooner than later," Buhari, who served in the army against the secessionists, was quoted as saying.
On Monday the streets of towns across the southeast were quiet and businesses were shuttered after the IPOB urged people to stay at home to commemorate those who died in the war.
The presidency statement said there had been 42 attacks on offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in recent months across 14 states.