Twitter’s Suspension Raises Dust in the House

The preemptive move of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila to ensure that the recent suspension of Twitter by the federal government did not degenerate into a partisan debate on the floor, was frustrated by the walkout of opposition lawmakers, writes Adedayo Akinwale

When the federal government suddenly and hastily suspended the operations of micro-blogging giant, Twitter, the federal lawmakers were away due to the zonal public hearing on constitutional amendment. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had announced the suspension of Twitter after the firm deleted some of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet, which the company found to be in breach of its community rules.

Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami wasted no time in issuing threat that those that continue tweeting in defiance to the federal government’s directive would be prosecuted, though under no known law.

PDP Caucus Threatens Legal Action

It was against the backdrop of the threat by Malami that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House threatened to drag the federal government to court over the suspension of the Twitter operations in the country. It described the decision as an act of desperation of a non-performing and failed government to intimidate and cow the citizens to consolidate its hold on power by brute force.

Leader of the caucus, Hon. Kingsley Chinda in a statement said, Twitter has become an integral component of the citizens’ ability to keep the government in check and to provide real-time feedback on the impact of government’s activities on the citizenry.

He added that the subsequent directive to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to license social media operators in the country was a surreptitious attempt to introduce the unpopular ‘Social Media Bill’ by mere executive fiat. He pointed out that with the suspension of Twitter was one more step in a litany of attempts to restrict the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens as enshrined in and guaranteed by Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution.

The opposition lawmakers stressed that the supposed suspension imposed on Twitter has no legal foundation as executive fiats, no matter the language they’re couched, have no force of law. The caucus insisted that no citizen can be tried for an offence that has no basis in law or backed by a written law and punishment prescribed.

The Minority Caucus

Similarly, the Minority Caucus in the House has condemned, in its entirety, the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria by the federal government, describing it as a clear violation of freedom of speech and other democratic rights and tenets as provided by the 1999 constitution. The lawmakers, in a statement by its Leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, described the suspension as “provocative, obnoxious and unjustifiable”.

The caucus noted that the decision of the federal government in suspending Twitter “smacks of intolerance, insensitivity and aversion to the views, opinions and aspirations of Nigerian citizens, especially the youths, on matters of state.”

Gbajabiamila’s Pre-emptive Move

At the resumed plenary, last week, Gbajabiamila, in his address, preempted the opposition lawmakers,when he mandated the House Committees on Communication, Justice, Information and Culture, and National Security and Intelligence to immediately commence investigation into the circumstances of the decision by the federal government to suspend the operations of Twitter in Nigeria and the legal authority for the ban on the operations of the micro blogging giant.

The House also summoned Mohammed to appear before it and explain the reasons for the ban. The Speaker, therefore, gave the Committees 10 days to expeditiously conclude the assignment and report back to the House for further legislative action.

Gbajabiamila said the lawmakers were aware that the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria has generated fierce debate and the House has since the announcement been inundated with comments about the decision, requests for intervention and criticism.

The Speaker said the House recognises that Twitter, like other social media networks, is an important tool for communication and commerce in Nigeria, particularly amongst the younger generation thathas used these networks for enterprise and innovation with great success.

He, however, said the House also recognised that as social media has been a tool for good, it can also be a tool for bad actors, hence the government has a legitimate interest in ensuring that these platforms are not used to commit vile actions against individuals and the State.

According to hints, it’s the proper role of the legislature in circumstances like this to peel back the layers of the decision-making process to unravel the issues until they develop an understanding of the why and the how of executive decisions.

The Opposition Walkout

Meanwhile, a mild drama ensued on Tuesday, when the PDP caucus staged a walkout at the plenary. The leader of the PDP caucus raised a point of order citing Section 39 of the Constitution, Section 19 of the Universal declaration on Human and Peoples rights and Article 9 of the African charter of Human and Peoples rights and commended the steps taken so far by the Speaker.

He noted that while he agreed with the submission of the leadership of the House completely on the issue, the House should urge the executive arm to reverse its decision to ban Twitter while the committees continued its assignment within the stipulated 10 days.

But the Speaker ruled him out of order, arguing that since the matter has been referred to committees already, it was wrong for the matter to be revived again.

Chinda though insisted on being heard, the House Leader, Hon. Alhassan Doguwa and Chief Whip, Hon. Mohammed Tahir Mongunu asked him to be guided.

It was at this point that a visibly angry Chinda and some other members of the caucus walked out of the plenary. The opposition lawmakers held straight to the press corps centre to address the press on their grievances, insisting that the members would continue to tweet in disregard to the ban, while some others kept shouting continue to tweet, continue to tweet.

Meanwhile, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, raised a point of order and alleged that there was an earlier plan by some members to disrupt the business of the House if their demands were not granted by the leadership of the House. Gagdi noted that he read in the media that opposition lawmakers threaten to grand the plenary, stressing that their decision to walkout was an insult to Nigerians and it shows that it was preplanned.

The lawmaker argued that If it was reported that members of the National Assembly elected by the people of Nigeria, who ought to support the leadership of the House having come up with programmess aimed at finding solutions to the killings in the country, but added that their decision to frustrate the efforts of the House will fail.

In his submission, Gbajabiamila said the matter should be put to rest, but added that It was unfortunate that seasoned parliamentarians, who should know better behaved the way they did, noting that at first, he thought it was a partisan thing, but stressed that he was happy to see several members of the opposition in the chamber who refused to follow their colleague in staging a walkout.

While briefing journalists after staging the walkout, Chinda said the PDP caucus of the House would continue tweeting, saying they are ready to be jailed by the government on behalf of Nigerians.

He added: “The Speaker presented a speech to us this morning. There was no debate on that issue. Resolutions of the House are always arrived at by majority vote. So, in essence what happened this morning was the decision of the leadership and that’s why I said we agree with the decision of the leadership but we still have the right if we have further things to add to it. We are not angels, our leaders are not angels. it’s not against our rules, there was no debate and no vote was taken on those issues, so it’s not sacrosanct.”

Chinda said he would have been surprised if the leadership of the House did not take that step, stressing that it was what the caucus expected, but added that there was nothing wrong in adding another prayer, which was what the caucus sought to do.

Asked if the prayer would be introducing sort of a motion at the next sitting, he said even if it comes as a motion, it would not be listed and even if listed, pet alone passes.

A Daring Minority Caucus

The Joint Minority Caucus of the Senate and the House has called on Nigerians to use various opportunities offered by technology and continue to make use of twitter since such does not violate any law in the country.

In a statement jointly signed by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and Elumelu, the caucus restated its condemnation of the embargo as draconian and unacceptable.

The Caucus also dismissed threats by the APC-led government to arrest and prosecute Nigerians using twitter and calls on Nigerians to go ahead and use their twitter as they would not be contravening any law in Nigeria or any international statute.

It said it was pained by the anguish Nigerians, especially, the youths, who find the use of twitter as a means of livelihood and genuine social interaction, are passing through just because the APC-led federal government feels slighted that an individual’s post, was deleted by Twitter for ethical violation.

It stressed it was agonising that Nigeria and Nigerians have been losing billions of naira on a daily basis since the ban on twitter, saying this is completely unacceptable as it is worsening the already biting economic hardship and frightening unemployment level in the country.

The caucus added that the ban on Twitter in Nigeria appears to be in favour of criminal and terrorist elements, whose activities fester in an environment of suppressed information flow.