 After 200 days the Nigerian government lifts the ban on Twitter and another INEC official resigns and embraces the all-progressive Congress APC as he joins the governorship race. This is plus politics, I am Mary Anacol. The Nigerian government has lifted the suspension of Twitter's operations in the country. The ban was placed on the social media platform in June of 2021 after it deleted a controversial tweet by the president, Mohammed Bahari. The government had also accused Twitter of working against Nigeria's interest. The director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Abdilahi, announced that the lifting of the suspension, he announced the lifting of the suspension in a statement. The federal government on June the 4th of 2021 announced the suspension of the platform in Nigeria through the Minister of Information and Culture like Mohammed. Well, joining us to discuss this is Ini Baraifiyong and Ayodhiji Awobi Yide. Both of them are legal practitioners. Thank you very much gentlemen for joining us. Thank you Baba. Great. Thank you. Great, Ini. You and I have had this conversation over and over again the past few months since Twitter had been banned and now all of a sudden I think I got wind of it sometime late last night. I think before I went to bed, I just saw the post about Twitter being lifted, the suspension being lifted. Many people have reacted to it. Some people are relieved. I hear some people are overjoyed. But a group of other people seem to be a bit more curious as to why government is lifting the ban now. But what are your thoughts? Well, eventually the so-called ban was going to be lifted because there was no reason for the suspension or the ban to have been imposed in the first place. And I have consistently maintained that the decision that was not warranted, that the decision that was taken in perfect, that the decision that was taken on accounts of vengeance in post-induence of vain data by a regime that fell slighted by what was rightfully perceived by a large section of the population as a genocidal and irresponsible tweet by the president was deleted. That accounted for the so-called ban that the government imposed. So eventually the government had to reverse the abnormality that they had forced on the country. But the government is saying something different from what you're saying. The government is saying that Twitter was suspended in the country as a result of the fact that it was used to cause an uprising of sorts and to try to topple government. But you're here saying that this suspension was as a result of a vendetta by the federal government. I'm trying to understand what the government said and what you're saying. Well, does that make sense to you? If that's supposed to make sense to any reasonable person. One can rightly describe that as that. And also that was used to undermine the corporate existence of the country. What exactly does that include? What does it mean? In what way, specifics? Where is the evidence of that? Nothing was pointed out except a veiled reference to Nnamdi Kandu. And I'm in court. I'm still in court with them on this. So I don't want to go into the details of the matter in court. But I can also tell you for free that even in court, as I argued before, Honorable Justice Faji, you know, today they're not single tweets of Nnamdi Kandu was exhibited in court. Not even one, a evidence of inciting the public. And in any event, you cannot apply collective punishments to say that because one person has wrongly used Twitter, just as Bwari himself did, because he abused Twitter, used Twitter in the wrong manner by that particular tweet that he put out, you will now suspend the entire platform at the nine million of Nigeria's access to it. The regulatory issues that they have raised matters pertaining to registration with CSC, with having a representative in Nigeria, compliance with so-called Nigerian laws that they haven't really specifically cited, and other issues, issues of taxation, did a matter that could have been resolved without the very responsible ban that was placed on that platform. In any event, these conditions, these requirements have not been imposed in like manner on other platforms. We still have Facebook. We have Instagram. We have Snapchat. Another social media app that Nigeria has still using. Why is it that Twitter was isolated? Why is it that this ban was targeted specifically at Twitter? I have told you the reason. And I made a point clear to the court that the court should go beyond the best-selling statement that they have made about the corporate revisions of Nigeria being challenged, which I said is hanging in the hay and probe the real intent, the real purpose, because the intent is important in determining the propriety of the action. If this was about regulatory requirements, and I have also said that as I speak to you, nobody has been able to convince me, no lawyer in this country has been able to convince me that there is any law, any enactment, any act of parliament in this country that enables the government to take the sort of measure that they took. None. It was after this, a bit right decision was taken, the LEM went before the National Assembly to promote a bill to amend the NBC Act to allow for them to regulate social media. And they also tried to introduce a social media bill that was wrongly rejected at public hearing. What that shows you is that the government started regulation through sanction, which as I argued previously, cannot be done, should not be tolerated. You cannot start regulation through sanction. You must set the necessary legislative framework in place. That has not been done till date. Okay, interesting. Let me go to our next guest. Now it's very interesting, Barrister. I'll pick up from where Barrister and I just stopped. The government, in his words, were high handed. He talked about the fact that in courts, they've not been able to present any evidence as to the case that they made or the reasons they gave Nigerians for putting Twitter on hold or suspending the services of Twitter in Nigeria. Now, they ignored the law. That's number one. Secondly, there was an Echoes court judgment that said that the government did not have a right to suspend Twitter and that Twitter should be brought back. Well, we've not really heard anything about that. Media houses had to comply. We were given an order. In fact, that order was much, much more like if you were still on social media, you might get sanctioned by the NBC. And that's also for the telecommunications companies across the country. So why exactly do you think that the government is this high handed in terms of issues such as this? Well, thank you. I think it's very evident that the ban or so-called suspension of Twitter in Nigeria is largely borne out of number one, the end source protest and number two, and I think that was the green of rice that tilted the scale. The removal or taking down of President Bawari Street. Now, the initial reaction of the government was to just ban it. And the government needs to realize that this is not 1963. This is a democratic government, which means that freedom of speech and how you censure it needs to go through their public channel. And like Imi said, all of this things about introducing a bill came after the occurrence of the event. In other words, there's nothing that has been done now that the government could not have done before it proceeded with the suspension. In other words, engaging Twitter, they could have been able to proceed with Twitter to engage them actively and effectively to ensure that all of these their concerns are actively met. And if you look at the statement that was issued by the DG of that Mr. Abdulai, the concerns that the government raised where Twitter was being used to propagate fake news and polarizing Nigeria and also amounted to a threat to our national security. Now, there's nothing in the statement issued detailing the conditions that the Twitter needs to meet that identifies to us or to any reasonable Nigerian that all of these concerns that led to the banning in the first place have been met. So you see what you have at number one, we can agree that the ban was very, I am dead was ill advised, was esteem. Now this lifting of the ban also, I mean, we all know that the listing of the ban is in good time for the political season. So a lot of the political activities that I'm sorry, let me comment. Why do you think that this is, I mean, because I've heard people, we've seen comments on social media and people are saying, well, this is just because they need to use the social media for political reasons. But why? I mean, just like he said, there are other social platforms that they can use. Why Twitter? If Twitter was that important to Mr. President and his cohorts, why did they have to ban it for so long and now want to use it when it's convenient? I'm just, you know, pushing the argument. Exactly. So just buttressing my point. Now you would realize that a lot of Nigerian youths use Twitter more than they use Instagram and Facebook and the rest. So Twitter is actually the most used social media platform in Nigeria. Yes, close book, Facebook comes a close second for Twitter is largely used by, I mean, the enlightened populace. And if you notice yesterday when the ban was lifted, a lot of these politicians and their courts were pretty messages, announcing their resumption of activities on Twitter. You have the presidential aid also did the same as well. Announcing that they are back on Twitter and now it all ties in to the fact that we are now in a system where they need to get a message across. They need to find a way of pushing their candidates and ensuring that the people, the enlightened people who use Twitter have an idea of who and who is running for office or who desires to take control of our destiny as the people. So because if you look at the statement that was issued by Mr. Abdullah, ask yourself the question, has Twitter registered in Nigeria? Of course not. Has Twitter paid taxes to Nigeria? Of course not. Has Twitter appointed a country of the city for Nigeria? Of course not. So why exactly is the government in the hurry to lift the ban on Twitter when Twitter has also made the conditions that they themselves have put forward? I'm also curious as to why Twitter is quiet about it because if you're saying that Twitter has not met these conditions, they seem very tight-lipped about it, meaning that they're just going with it because they just want to continue to have Nigerians on Twitter. I mean I'm saying if the record needs to be set straight, if the government is saying Twitter has done this and Twitter hasn't really complied why they are tight-lipped about it? Well I think that after we get to the engagement that they had with Twitter, don't forget that there was the Presidential Committee that was set up, and then the Presidential Committee that was set up. So they've had several months to deal and engage with Twitter and its employees and its people. So there would be some sort of understanding. I mean I don't have it but I would believe that there's some sort of understanding between the government and Twitter. And I don't think that Twitter would want to rub the boat now. I haven't gotten this far because don't forget that a lot of Nigerians who actually use Twitter every day use the VPNs, they use the Virtual Private Networks to continue the activities. And I mean it was it went on as smoothly as... Oh I think that we lost audio with... Oh man. Okay, Ayaneji are you still there? Yeah I'm here. Can you hear me? Yes, we lost your audio for a second. Oh I'm too sorry about that. So I said the reason why the government has decided to issue the statement and to leave the ban is very obvious to the Nakeda. And that is because they want to use this season. I mean they have barely a few months to elections and they need Twitter to push the agenda. Because there's no, if you look at the statement that was issued there, there is nothing on paper that suggests that the visas for the ban have actually been complied with or addressed by Twitter. I mean how do you tell, how has Twitter been able to stop the spread of fake news or fake news by Nigerians? Has it been able to solve our tribal issues or differences? Has Twitter been able to improve our national security? Those are questions that need to be answered and I don't see any answer from the governments for now. Back to you Inie. Still talking about the issue of high-handedness. I mean they've talked about propagating fake news and propaganda and all of that as some of the reasons why Twitter was brought down. What has changed? What will change? Now that they brought Twitter back, is the government going to tell us, assure us that they will not also participate in these propaganda in this fake news or will they not necessarily have to come back to set the record straight on issues that will be put out on that same social media platform? Because Nigerians need to be sure that in the spirit of democracy and as we get ready for the election season, what they criticize they will not fall victim of it. If I could ask more questions. In addition to the ones my brother Ayodeji has asked, the claim Twitter existed in Nigeria illegally having not been cooperated by the Cooperator First Commission and that is the the full room, the substance of their case, their defense in court as that's speak to you today. Has Twitter been registered by CSE? The answer is no. Has Twitter paid a single tax to the Nigerian government as that today? The answer is no. So what does that put differently? Absolutely nothing. All there is all that they claim they got what they can I even call that the promising note. I can't call that a promissory note. They just got certain on their takings. They claim they got certain on their takings that Twitter said oh by the fed up of 2022 blah blah blah blah we are going. Oh I think that connection is lost. I'm going to come back to you Ayodeji. Let's look at the international community that mostly frowned at you know the federal government action at the time who kept calling on the government to do right. They also frowned at the issues of ensars and the you know but that's not our base you know that's not what we're talking about today. I've seen a couple of you know international community Twitter handles excited about the fact that Nigeria has restored Twitter. So I'm going to toss the same question I asked Ini back to you. Is how are we certain that the federal government will do as it says we should do and everybody else including the media house is the newspapers. The avid Nigerian who's tweeting how are we certain that they will not fall victim of the same crimes that they're alleging that Nigerians were committing using social media especially Twitter. Well a very straight answer there is no certainty that we can hold on to from the government. What this government has shown in the past six plus years is that they do things out of impulse because this Twitter ban itself was not well thought out. It was ill advised. Now if you recall this same government ruled to power on the basis of Twitter and at a point during 2014-2013 you could see a lot of criticisms leveled against the former president Kudo Jonathan at the time. Were those criticisms deserved at the time absolutely yes absolutely yes. The government at the time was not performing and the the APC government the APC at the party mechanically crystallized the government. Now so what has changed with this government why are they so not ready to receive criticism why are they so not receptive to criticism. That's a question they should answer because now that you if you're in government ready to serve the people and the people have questions to ask then they should genuinely ask you. Now if you if you looked at the statement issued by the staff of the light again he did say in the statement that the priority of the government is to adapt and not to ban Twitter. Now if that was the government's priority in the very first place then there was basically no reason to have suspended or to have banned Twitter in the very first place. You could have engaged Twitter the way that the presidential committee did and the presidential committee did without banning Twitter. Now that's why we as lawyers will ask the questions because if the reason for the action that's for the ban in the very first place has not been resolved the issues that you raised in the beginning have not been resolved. What is the guarantee or what led what instituted the lifting of the ban? We have not seen any evidence of any statement by Twitter. There's no statement by Twitter clearly agreeing to all of these conditions. We don't know where their office addresses even though the announcement says that Twitter should be registered in Nigeria in the first quarter. I would have thought that the first condition would be that Twitter would register with the CAC. It doesn't take long. You have the ease of doing business. That would have been a good example a prime time to use that ease of doing business platform to have Twitter registered swiftly. Then you would have an office address and then we can say that Twitter is taking Nigeria seriously but as it appears to us it seems that it's only political game that is well orchestrated and of course at the right time because the ordinary Nigerians are found a way around Twitter, around the Twitter ban. They use the VPNs and they use it effectively and if I may say some of some Nigerian Twitter are already complaining about the resumption of political activities on Twitter because what that did was effectively government and political party agents could not tweet. So there was little or no friction as it relates to engaging government. They couldn't tweet for about several months and there was a lot of peace on the timeline but now that they are back between yesterday and today I mean you've had a lot of issues going back and forth. So the government is the one that is coming back to Twitter not the people. The people have always been on Twitter and they found they were around it. So it's a government that should be welcome back to Twitter. Alright, we're in campaign season. I always keep reminding us you know everybody that campaign season is around the corner and looking at the God from what you and you have been saying it makes people really you know look twice at the government but how will this Twitter ban and of course the restoration or lifting of the suspension rob off on the government and the ruling party as the elections are coming. Well I see a situation where the government of course will try to relax a few of its iron deadness try and relax a little bit particularly knowing that it's an outgoing government that the government will be out of power in about 15 to 15 months they're about a maximum of 16 months. So I see that it's the point where the government will try and let down with God and allow the political gladiators to take over. And of course don't forget also that even the officials of government government agencies are also affected by this ban. I just saw recently a tweet by the federal fire service announcing that they are now back on Twitter. Now I mean something an agency as important as the federal fire service where people could easily reach them on Twitter how to suspend its activities for several months and small businesses have to do the same as well for several months. So the effects of the ban on on the people on businesses on even government agencies and government establishment I mean it was only felt by everyone. Okay but as it relates to this political season I believe that the government I do not see them banning Twitter till they leave I believe that they would you also use it to push forward their achievements their propaganda and their agenda for the next election. Ini thank you for coming back apologies for the connection issues um finally in closing what kind of I mean we know that the government has done this somewhat to save face or um you know for whatever reasons maybe for the election season but what you as a person who has been advocating for human rights and all of those things um what what message should the average Nigerian be going away with with all that has happened in the space and time that Twitter has been banned and restored what should we be going away with so lots of people have been saying so many things um for Nigerians to take heed of but for you um especially being in the forefront of fighting this Twitter ban what should we be going away with as we get ready for the elections Beyond counting this for this regime of burial to come to an end those who participated in the atrocities that have been committed against Nigerians the Dragunian measures the high hand leaders the party that is complicit the political party and the political actors who are complicit in these things that have happened who have endorsed these things who have been silent on the impunity of this regime must be punished in the next election Nigeria has more and that is the point that I made on I made on Twitter I said look as citizens we must imbibe the culture of punishing politicians and political parties that inflict pains on us the reason why people go into offices and do whatever they like is because of the absence of the policy of consequence they know nothing will happen they know they will still be voted for they will know they will still have people rally for them but when they do these things that they know that they will pay a heavy price people become circumspect people begin to think before they act so I am saying that it is for Nigerians the enlightened population to ensure that those who are implicit either by their act or mission or by their silence are punished during the 2023 election that is the only way that one can rightly say that indeed we have learned lessons of the country there has to be a price for this they should not get away with it there has to be a price those who were silent when this ban was implemented those who came out to support it we must identify them and we must punish them at the post that's my position well the internet never forget so those messages and those tweets will be found Inira Refiang Ayodeji Awobiide both are legal practitioners thank you so much gentlemen for speaking with us thank you for having us all right well thank you all for staying with us we'll take a short break now when we return we discuss the influx of INEC officials into partisan politics stay with us