A federal high court in Lagos has ordered Lai Mohammed, a former information minister, and the ministry to disclose details of the agreement between the federal government and X, the micro-blogging platform formerly known as Twitter.
In June 2021, the former minister announced the “indefinite” suspension of Twitter’s operations in the country.
Six months later, the federal government ADOPTED lifting the suspension after giving some conditions to the microblogging platform.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a civil society organization (CSO) that holds the government accountable, then filed a freedom of information lawsuit marked FHC/L/CS/238/2022.
Delivering judgment in the suit in May 2024, Nnamdi Dimgba, the presiding judge, ordered that details of the agreement be given to SERAP to assess whether it was compatible with the exercise of human rights by Nigerians online.
The judge ruled that the former minister did not show the court how the disclosure of the deal would harm national security, as he had claimed.
Dimgba stated that “the former minister and the ministry of information are directed and forced to give SERAP a copy of the agreement between the Nigerian government and Twitter only to ascertain its impact on the protection of the basic human rights of Nigerians”.
“Disclosing the details of the agreement between the Nigerian government and Twitter is in the public interest and does not affect Twitter’s business interests as a third party. It is also not prejudicial to the sovereignty and national security of Nigeria,” the judge said.
“The agreement between the Nigerian government and Twitter must still be disclosed, regardless of the damage to Twitter, if it would be in the public interest to provide disclosure.
“The minister has failed to prove that the president followed the proper legal process to designate Twitter as a critical national information infrastructure on the recommendation of the National Security Adviser and issued an order in the Federal Gazette in this regard.
“I therefore hold that the disclosure of the Twitter deal is not prejudicial to the sovereignty and national security of Nigeria or protected by the Official Secrets Act as the minister has failed to prove the same.
“The first question that must 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 argued unequivocally that disclosure could harm Twitter’s business interests in other jurisdictions, potentially with Twitter’s contractual negotiations.
“However, this defense is hypothetical and does not indicate the specific business or contractual interests of Twitter that may be affected.”
“I am of the opinion that disclosure of the details of the agreement as requested by SERAP will not interfere with Twitter’s commercial interests and trade secrets and will not lead to financial loss for it, as the former minister has failed to prove the same.
“Furthermore, section 15(4) of the Freedom of Information Act provides only for actual and not hypothetical financial loss or gain or prejudice to the competitive position of or interference with contractual or other negotiations of a third party such as Twitter, which may be affected by disclosure.”
“No evidence was placed before this court that showed the fact that Twitter has an agreement with another country as a prerequisite to its operation in such jurisdiction as can be obtained in Nigeria.”
In July 2022, the court of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ruled that the Nigerian government’s ban on Twitter was “illegal“.
