By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued Muhammadu Buhari to the Abuja Federal High Court to stop his plan to spy on Nigerians through telephone calls, WhatsApp messages, and other social media.
It is the latest in multiple lawsuits the human rights activist has taken against the President this year alone to stop him trampling on the Constitution which guarantees freedom and the rule of law and to ask him to give account of public spending.
June – SERAP sues Buhari over Twitter ban
In June, SERAP and 176 individuals jointly filed a lawsuit against Buhari at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja over his ban on Twitter on June 4.
The plaintiffs cited “the unlawful suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, criminalisation of Nigerians and other people using Twitter, and the escalating repression of human rights, particularly the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom in the country.”
August – SERAP sues Buhari to account for public funds
In August, SERAP sued Buhari to the Abuja Federal High Court for failing to probe N105.66 billion officially declared missing from 149 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
SERAP said he failed to prosecute those responsible for the fraud and recover the missing public funds to reduce the pressure of borrowing more money.
The suit came after confirmation by the Office of the federal Auditor General in its 2018 annual audited report that N105,662,350,077.46 of public funds is missing, misappropriated or unaccounted for across 149 MDAs.
Also in August, SERAP filed a lawsuit against Buhari at the Lagos Federal High Court to provide details of how N729 billion has reportedly been handed out to 24.3 million poor households.
SERAP asked the court to compel Buhari “to disclose details of proposed payments of N729 billion to 24.3 million poor Nigerians, including the mechanisms and logistics for the payments, list of beneficiaries, and how they have been selected, and whether the payments will be made in cash or through Bank Verification Numbers [BVN] or other means.”
October – SERAP sues Buhari over social media surveillance
In the latest suit, SERAP wants the court to “declare illegal and unconstitutional the plan by the [Buhari] administration to track, intercept and monitor WhatsApp messages, phone calls, and text messages of Nigerians and other people, as it severely threatens and violates the right to the preservation of privacy.”
The suit, filed on October 15, followed the Supplementary Appropriation Act Buhari signed in July to spend N4.87 billion to monitor private phone calls and messages.
The amount is part of the N895.8 billion supplementary budget approved by the National Assembly (NASS).
SERAP is also seeking
- “An order of perpetual injunction restraining Buhari and any other authority, persons or group of persons from unlawfully monitoring WhatsApp messages, phone calls and text messages of Nigerians and other people.
- “A declaration that any monitoring of WhatsApp messages, phone calls and text messages is oppressive and draconian, as it threatens and violates Sections 37 and 39 of [the] Constitution … Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; and Articles 17 and 19 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nigeria is a state party.”
SERAP argues that
“The plan to monitor WhatsApp messages, phone calls and text messages is an arbitrary interference by the [Buhari] administration into respect for family and private life, the home, and correspondence. It also fails to meet the requirements of legality, necessity, and proportionality.
“The Buhari administration has legal obligations to protect Nigerians and other people against arbitrary interference and violations of their human rights.
“Monitoring of WhatsApp messages, phone calls and text messages would grant free rein to government agencies to conduct mass surveillance of communications of people.
“The mere threat of mass surveillance, even when secret, coupled with the lack of remedy, can constitute an interference with human rights, including the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
“Privacy and expression are intertwined in the digital age, with online privacy serving as a gateway to secure exercise of the freedom of opinion and expression.
“Therefore, targets of surveillance would suffer interference with their rights to privacy and freedom of opinion and expression whether the effort to monitor is successful or not.”
Joined in the suit as respondents are federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami and Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit, per reporting by The PUNCH.