The People’s Democratic Party has faulted the order by the Attorney-General of the Federation/Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to arrest Nigerian Twitter users.
Malami had earlier instructed the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation to begin immediate prosecution of those who violate the Federal Government’s order suspending Twitter operations in Nigeria.
The PDP, in a statement on Saturday, described the decision as null and void.
The statement, which was titled ‘Twitter Suspension: Malami’s prosecution order is illegal, null and void – PDP’, was signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.
It read in part, “The Peoples Democratic Party declares that the directive by the All Progressives Congress-led administration to arrest and prosecute any Nigerian using Twitter, is blatantly unconstitutional, illegal, null and completely of no moment.
“The PDP asserts that the directive by the APC through the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is not only downright ludicrous but shows the frenzied desperation by the Buhari Presidency to muzzle, victimise, clamp down on innocent Nigerians and foist a totalitarian system on our country.
“The PDP states that nothing in our extant laws, not even the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, constitutionally criminalises the use of Twitter by Nigerians or empowers the Federal Government to arrest and prosecute any Nigerian for using Twitter.”
The PDP also asserted that the order had no legal backing.
“The directive by the Attorney General to arrest and prosecute any Nigerians found using Twitter does not have the backing of any law enacted by the National Assembly or any state legislative house, and as such, Malami’s declaration is completely of no legal consequence,” the statement added.
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