Justice Nnamdi Okwy Dimgba of the Federal High Court Lagos has mandated former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, to reveal the details of the agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria and X, formerly known as Twitter.
The judgment, delivered in May 2024, came in response to a Freedom of Information suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP). A certified true copy of the judgment was obtained last Friday.
Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP’s Deputy Director, disclosed in a statement on Sunday that the court order aims to determine whether the agreement aligns with the protection of Nigerians’ human rights online.
“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,” Oluwadare stated.
Justice Dimgba emphasized that the public interest in disclosing the agreement outweighs any potential harm to Twitter’s business interests or concerns about national security. “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,” he held.
The court dismissed objections raised by the minister’s counsel and upheld SERAP’s arguments, ruling in favor of SERAP against the minister. Justice Dimgba further noted that the minister failed to demonstrate that the President had followed due legal process to designate Twitter as Critical National Information Infrastructure, based on the National Security Adviser’s recommendation.
“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. 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,” Justice Dimgba added.
This ruling follows the Nigerian Government’s suspension of Twitter on June 4, 2021, after the platform removed a post by then-President Muhammadu Buhari. Although Buhari was joined in the suit as a co-respondent, the court’s orders were directed against the former minister.
