In defiance of the government’s ban, many leaders of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders have declared their resolve to keep on tweeting, while damning the consequences.
According to the CSOs in a statement, yesterday, the recent declaration by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to arrest anyone, who convey messages through Twitter would not deter them.
No fewer than 40 signatories signed the statement, challenging the Federal Government’s action to ban Twitter in the country. Among them are Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative (PIN); ‘Yemi Adamolekun, Executive Director, EiE Nigeria; Cynthia Mbamalu, Director of Programmes, Yiaga Africa; Hamzat Lawal, Connected Development (CODE)/Follow The Money; Joshua Olufemi, Founder, Dataphyte; Idayat Hassan, Executive Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD); Kolawole Oluwadare, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP); Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani; and Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Edeatan Ojo.
They said that as practitioners, there is no recongnised law across the globe that could ban citizens from accessing information and sharing the same for the best interest of society.
“We stand with Nigerians who continue to exercise their fundamental human rights, especially as we will be celebrating Democracy Day on Saturday, June 12.”
