A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered Lai Mohammed, a former minister, and the Ministry of Information to disclose the details of an agreement between the Nigerian government and X, the microblogging platform.Justice Nnamdi Okwy Dimgba delivered this judgement on May 28, but the plaintiff received its certified true copy on Friday....READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE ▶▶
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a non-governmental organisation, had filed a freedom-of-information suit with the number FHC/L/CS/238/2022.
“The former minister and the Ministry of Information are directed and compelled to provide a copy of the agreement between the Nigerian Government and Twitter to SERAP solely to ascertain its impact on the protection of fundamental human rights of Nigerians,” Justice Dimgba ruled.
“Disclosing the details of the agreement between the Nigerian Government and Twitter is in the public interest and does not affect Twitter’s business interest as a third party. It is also not prejudicial to Nigeria’s sovereignty and national security.
“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.”
Mohammed’s counsel had raised objections to SERAP’s suit, claiming that the then president, Muhammadu Buhari, followed due process of law, but Justice Dimgba dismissed the minister’s objections.
“The minister has failed to prove that the President has followed due process of law to designate Twitter as a Critical National Information Infrastructure upon the National Security Adviser’s recommendation and issued an Order in the Federal Gazette in that regard,” the judge stated.
“Therefore, I hold 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 has failed to prove the same.
“The first question that needs to be answered is how the need to disclose the agreement is outweighed by the importance of protecting the commercial interests of the third party, Twitter.
“The former minister has unequivocally argued that the disclosure could harm Twitter’s business interests in other jurisdictions, potentially with Twitter’s contractual negotiations.
“However, this defence is hypothetical and does not point to the specific business or contractual interests of Twitter that could be affected.”
The federal government suspended X in June 2021, when it was known as Twitter. The platform had removed a post by Buhari for violating its rules.
Nigerian users could not access the social media platform until January 2022, when the government lifted its ban.
Mohammed announced that the government and X signed a new agreement on its operations in Nigeria afterwards but refused to disclose its content….READ FULL ARTICLE
