Adamu Garba, Nigerian businessman Tuesday asked a federal high court in Abuja to ban Twitter from operating in any part of the country.
But Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) said that it has Mr Femi Falana (SAN), instructed human rights lawyer, to lead a team of lawyers to, on behalf of Nigerians, to oppose the suit.
Garba had accused Jack Dorsey, chief executive officer and co-founder of Twitter, and Twitter International Company of “sponsoring” the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria.
Garba asked the court to give “an order directing the 7th Respondent to stop the operation of Twitter Intl Company in any part of the territory of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“AN ORDER directing the 8th and 9th respondents jointly to pay the applicant the sum of USD 1 Billion as damages.”
Dorsey, Twitter and the EndSARS protesters are named as 8th, 9th and `10th respondents in the suit.
Protests broke out in Nigeria about two weeks ago to demand an end to the activities of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian police.
The unit was accused of crimes such as extrajudicial killings, kidnapping, extortion and intimidation.
Although police authorities and President Buhari said that a reform of the police would begin in earnest, protesters said similar promises made in the past were empty chatter.
The unit has since been scrapped and a new Special Weapons and Tactics unit established to replace.
The protests have enjoyed the support of local and international sports stars and celebrities.
On October 14, Dorsey tweeted #EndSARS and a link to a Tech Cabal’s article detailing how rogue policemen clamped on Nigeria’s tech community and the website of Feminist Coalition, a group of Nigerian feminists fighting against injustice through peaceful protests, fundraising, and social media organisation.
Garba said such a tweet amounted to sponsoring of the protests.
“You have violated the international principles of nationhood and democracy, by meddling into our local affairs, knowing fully well that these is capable of toppling the democratically elected government of the day, slowing us down from progress on our hard-earned democracy journey,” he tweeted after filing the suit on Tuesday.
But SERAP said on its Twitter handle that “We’ve decided to join S/N: FHC/ABJ/CS/1391/2020 filed by APC member seeking to shut down Twitter because of #EndSARS protests.
“We’ll challenge this suit, defend free speech & access to information of everyone.
“We have just instructed Femi Falana, SAN to lead a team of senior lawyers to represent us and other interested Nigerians to challenge this suit, and to defend people’s rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and peaceful assembly.”