SERAP Sues Buhari over NIN-SIM Linkage.
The rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a suit against President Muhammadu Buhari over “the failure to review and rescind his reported approval for security agencies to access people’s details via NIN-SIM linkage without due process of law”.
This was contained in a statement issued by the group’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, on Sunday. It accused the president of giving approval to the security agencies without due process.
SERAP is asking the court for an order to set aside the approval, stressing that it amounts to violations of the rights of citizens.
The group also requested for “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government or any other authority, persons or group of persons from unlawfully accessing people’s details via NIN-SIM linkage without due process of the law”.
“If President Buhari’s approval is not rescinded, millions of law-abiding Nigerians may feel that their private lives are the subject of constant surveillance.”
SERAP asserted that “interference with an individual’s right to privacy is not permissible if it is unlawful or arbitrary”.
In the suit filed last Friday with number FHC/L/CS/448/2022 at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP demanded that the court should determine “whether the approval for security agencies to access people’s details via the National Identification Number [NIN] without due process is consistent with the principles of legality, necessity, and proportionality”.
“The power to access individual’s details raises serious concerns as to their arbitrary use by the authorities responsible for applying them in a manner that reduces human rights by the monitoring and surveillance of millions of Nigerians,” the suit noted.
Respondents of the suit include the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and Isa Pantami, the minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
However, no date has been fixed for the hearing.
