Twitter apologised, promised to obey Buhari’s orders, AGF Malami tells Court

In its defence affidavit, the attorney-general told the ECOWAS Court that Twitter tendered an apology to the current administration and promised to do better.

Oyindamola Olubajo • October 1, 2021

Abubakar Malami, the attorney general of the federation has claimed that tech giant, Twitter apologised to President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime and vowed to abide by Nigeria’s rules.

The Buhari regime banned the operation of Twitter across Nigeria over claims that the platform was used for activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence, following the deletion of Mr Buhari’s genocidal post.

Several human rights groups and media organisations including Peoples Gazette and Amnesty International, in a consolidated lawsuit, sued the regime for violating fundamental rights of expression.

In its defence, Mr Malami told the Community Court of Justice of ECOWAS that Twitter tendered an apology to the current administration.

“The Court should also take a Judicial Notice that Twitter Inc Service had already approached the Defendant with an apology and a promise to be law-abiding to all the countries rules, regulations and policies,” he said in a 17-page defence document seen by The Gazette.

The court adjourned the hearing until January 2022 for a ruling.

Although the regime had said it was making progress in the dialogue with Twitter, it is yet to suspend the ban despite repeatedly assuring Nigerians that it would be lifted in “a few days”.

“And as to the qualifying word for when or how soon, I want to assure you that the time that Twitter operation was suspended, I mean between the time it was suspended and when it will be restored, is by far much, much shorter,” the minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed had said.
The minister had also said that the tech giant agreed to abide by its rules, one of which was to open offices in Nigeria, but this was debunked by a Twitter spokesperson.

A spokesperson for Twitter told The Gazette on Friday that the social media giant would continue to work with the Buhari regime to resolve the restriction, declining to confirm or deny whether or not an apology was issued as Mr Malami stated in the affidavit before ECOWAS Court.

Download the government’s full defence here.