From Abba Sarki, Kano
Digital rights violation are worsening at state and local government levels in Nigeria where citizens are arrested or detained for expressing opinion onlines, according to the Center For Information Technology Development CITAD.
The Centre said though
Nigeria operates a federal system in which responsibilities are shared between federal,states and local governments, the role of digital technologies clearly places responsibility on states to protect the digital rights of its citizens as well as deploy ICT for development.
In the last six months, CITAD said, it has had cause to respond to cases of digital rights across Kano, Jigawa, Niger, Katsina, and Kwara States, a disturbing pattern of abuse.
” On 10 November, Comrade Abiyo Roni, an indigene of Roni Local Ge was arrested for criticising his local government chairman ove initiative on social media. In Kwara State, a blogger, Ajala Adeshin detained following allegations of defamation after criticising a recorded similar cases involving Murtala Garba Doka, Shamsu Saf Kabeer Gwagwarwa, a serving corps member arrested following holder,” CITAD Digital Rights Lead, Ali Sabo said during a press conference in Kano.
Sabo said the cases reflect a growing culture of intolerance to criticism, abuse of power, and the weaponisation of law enforcement agencies to silence dissent-especially at the grassroots.
He said equally alarming are digital rights violations occurring among private individuals by ignorance, citing examples of a case involving a minor whose video was recorded without consent at a family event and circulated widely on social media leading public ridicule emotional trauma, and eventual withdrawal from school.
Another woman discovered her image had been used without consent in an advertising material by a textile merchant, highlighting widespread lack of understanding of privacy and consent in the digital age.
CITAD calls for urgent action on domestication of federal digital rights and data protection policies and development of state-level digital rights framework to prevent conflict with contemporary digital rights standards.
It also calls on state governments to stop arresting citizens for expressing opinions and for investment in training of judges and law enforcement agents on digital rights laws.
About The Author
