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ABUJA. –  The Ecowas court of justice restrained Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s government from prosecuting people for using social media platform Twitter in a landmark court ruling yesterday.

The ruling comes after a suit filed against the Nigerian government by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (Serap) and 176 concerned Nigerians, who argued that the suspension of Twitter in the West African country was unlawful, according to online news publication Vanguard Nigeria.

The court of justice is composed of independent judges appointed by the authority of heads of state of government from Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) member states.

Serap, a non-profit, non-partisan, legal and advocacy organisation devoted to promoting transparency, accountability and respect for socio-economic rights in Nigeria, said the criminalisation of people using Twitter had escalated the repression of human rights and unlawfully restricted freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom in the country.

It said the Ecowas court ruling meant that no one would be sanctioned, harassed, intimidated, arrested or prosecuted for using Twitter in Nigeria. – ANA.