A human rights advocate, Barr Higher King, has said the recent ban of Twitter by President Muhammadu Buhari infringes on the rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution.
Speaking in an interview, he said that denying Nigerians right to use of twitter because they deleted the President’s post was wrong.
The human rights advocate said: “I think it is a violation of Nigerians right to freedom of speech as enshrined in 1999 Constitution which talks about freedom of expression. So I think it has infringed on the fundamental rights of Nigerians”.
He said the President could have taken the issue up with Twitter and not banning the communication platform.
He said twitter could have explained reason for their action and might apologize not for the president to take action which now affects all Nigerians using the communication platform.
He also said that the president’s action showed sign of dictatorship where he had to ban twitter as if in a military regime.
Barr King said people could go to court to challenge the president’s action but lamented courts were closed.
He also criticised plans by the government to arrest and prosecute those caught using the communication platform saying there was no law to enable prosecution.
“Where is the law to prosecute them with?”, he asked.
He said offenders could be prosecuted if there was a law to enable prosecution.
Twitter was banned by the federal government for deleting President Muhammadu Buhari’s post in which he said he would treat Nigerians “misbehaving today” in “the language they will understand”.
Twitter said that the post violated its rules.
The information minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed earlier said Twitter was guilty of double standards.
