Maxwell Okpara, a public interest attorney, has vowed to sue Twitter for N20 billion, with the Department of State Services (DSS) as a party, over the agency’s tweet referring to him as a “overzealous and uninformed IPOB/ESN lawyer.”
The attorney added that he wrote to Twitter, also known as X, to express his displeasure that their platform could be used to malign someone’s reputation.
On Friday, Okpara spoke during his appearance on the Morning Show programme on Arise Television.
Recall that Maxwell sued the DSS for keeping suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele in detention.
The DSS reportedly referred to Okpara as a “charge-and-bail lawyer” when he filed contempt charges against its Director-General, Yusuf Bichi, over Emefiele’s ongoing detention, according to OBASANJO NEWS24.
The secret police claimed in a since-deleted tweet that the IPOB/ESN lawyer leading the team of attorneys who filed the charges against Bichi was “overzealous and uninformed.”
The attorney claimed that despite writing to Twitter and demanding a pitiful fee of N5 billion, the social media juggernaut didn’t reply to him within the allotted week.
When the court vacation is over, he continued, he will file a lawsuit against Twitter, with the DSS as a party.
“Well, I don’t really have a problem with the DSS because when I saw it, I thought that their Twitter handle was being taken over,” he responded. But as soon as I made sure of it, I sent a letter to the president, the speaker of the house, the president of the senate, the national security adviser, and the NBA president. A couple of them have replied to my letters to them.
“I also wrote to Twitter for allowing their platform to be used to malign someone’s character because, in my opinion, I should focus on the individual who permitted their platform to be used. Had Twitter adhered to their own rules, which state that you may not use their platform to smear another person. They consented, and I wrote to them as well. And I’ve only asked for a pitiful fee of N5 billion. The week I gave them to use is now over. So now that my procedures are ready, I am just waiting for the vacation to end. I’ll file and join the DSS by the first week of September.
“Since Nigerians have replied to them, I might not talk much about that particular problem. And I learnt that they pulled down that amusing comment after nine days, but it will not exonerate them from being liable.
This is something I do to help other people. Is it my fault that I won’t do it? I file for those whose rights are being violated, is it my own that I will not do? I’ll handle it alone and do it well. Where they allow me to go to court, I would just make it N20 billion.”
