Falana: It’s illegal for security agencies to arrest journalists for cyberstalking

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‘causing annoyance’, ‘sending offensive messages’, ‘criminal intimidation’, ‘insult’, and ‘causing annoyance’, had been repealed.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“In line with both judgments of the ECOWAS court, the government of Nigeria has repealed section 24 by removing the provisions relating to ‘cyberstalking’, ‘insult’, ‘causing annoyance’, ‘sending offensive messages’, and ‘criminal intimidation’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“Consequently, all pending cases filed on the basis of the repealed aspects of section 24 of the cybercrime act 2015 should be discontinued without any further delay.”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.