JUSTICE Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has ordered former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and the Ministry of Information to disclose the details of the agreement between the Federal Government and X (formerly Twitter).
This decision aims to assess whether the agreement aligns with the exercise of Nigerians’ human rights online.
Justice Dimgba emphasized, “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 Nigeria’s sovereignty and national security.”
He further stated that the agreement must be disclosed irrespective of any potential harm to Twitter if it serves the public interest.
The court dismissed the objections raised by the minister’s counsel, upholding SERAP’s arguments, and consequently entered judgment in favor of SERAP against the minister.
Justice Dimgba also noted, “The minister has failed to prove that the President 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.”
In his judgment dated May 28, 2024, Justice Dimgba concluded, “The disclosure of the Twitter agreement is not prejudicial to Nigeria’s sovereignty and national security or protected by the Official Secrets Act, as the minister has failed to prove the same.”
He further questioned, “The first question that needs to 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.”
While the former minister argued that disclosure could harm Twitter’s business interests in other jurisdictions, Justice Dimgba dismissed this defense as hypothetical, noting it did not specifically identify the business or contractual interests of Twitter that could be affected.
