Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says it is illegal for security agencies to arrest journalists for cyberstalking.
In a statement on Friday, Falana said section 24 of the
Cybercrime Act 2015 which had criminalised ‘cyberstalking’, ‘insult’, ‘causing
annoyance’, ‘sending offensive messages’, ‘criminal intimidation’, ‘insult’,
and ‘causing annoyance’, had been repealed.
The national assembly had amended the law, with President
Bola Tinubu signing the amendment bill into law in February.
The human rights lawyer said the law was amended after suits were instituted against the federal government.
“In line with both
judgments of the ECOWAS court, the government of Nigeria has repealed section
24 by removing the provisions relating to ‘cyberstalking’, ‘insult’, ‘causing
annoyance’, ‘sending offensive messages’, and ‘criminal intimidation’ from the
cybercrimes act 2015 and replaced same with section 5 of the cybercrime
amendment act which provides as follows;
“‘Any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message
or other matter by means of computer systems or network that is – (a)
Pornographic: or…
“(b) He knows to be false, for the purpose of causing a
breakdown of law and order, posting a threat to life or causing such a message
to be sent commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction
to a fine of not more than N7,000,000.00 or imprisonment for a term of not more
than 3 years or to both such fine and imprisonment’.
“From the foregoing,
it is crystal clear that the Police and other security agencies lack the power
to arrest, detain and prosecute Nigerian citizens for the so-called offences of
‘cyberstalking’, ‘insult’, ‘causing annoyance’, ‘sending offensive messages’,
and ‘criminal intimidation’.
“Consequently, all pending cases filed on the basis of the
repealed aspects of section 24 of the cybercrime act 2015 should be
discontinued without any further delay.”
Last week, Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist with the Foundation
for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), regained his freedom after spending nine
days in police custody for allegedly violating the Cybercrime Act.
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