When an internet connection disappears during a demonstration, the loss is not limited to social-media posts. People can also lose the tools they use to coordinate a meeting, share practical information and keep a group connected. International lawyer Ephraim Percy Kenyanito argues that this makes shutdowns a question about peaceful assembly, alongside the familiar debate about freedom of expression.
His commentary distinguishes restrictions aimed at a particular person's speech from restrictions that disconnect many people at once. The latter can obstruct collective action even when no individual message has been singled out. That is the core of his argument: the internet can function as part of the infrastructure through which people gather, not merely as a place to publish opinions.
The legal discussion centres on two different provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Article 9 addresses expression and information; Article 11 concerns assembly. Kenyanito argues that lawyers should build and support an assembly claim in its own right, rather than assume that naming the right in a case is enough to secure a ruling on it.
He also points to the UN Human Rights Committee's General Comment 37, adopted in 2020, which discusses online assemblies and the online organisation of gatherings in physical places. The commentary uses that framework to argue for greater attention to connectivity. It is an interpretation and an argument about enforcement, not the announcement of a new Nigerian judgment or a new nationwide shutdown.
For readers, one important distinction is between an ordinary network failure and an intentional restriction. A slow or unavailable connection, on its own, does not establish government involvement. Reporting an alleged shutdown requires evidence about timing, affected networks and the cause of disruption. The broader legal debate should not become a shortcut for declaring every outage an act of censorship.
The practical issue raised by the commentary is how existing rights work when communication moves between online and offline spaces. Courts, regulators and network operators can each affect whether protections have real force. Kenyanito's conclusion is that assembly deserves a properly developed argument and evidence, alongside speech claims, when a deliberate restriction prevents people from organising peacefully.