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Delta Maritime Polytechnic bans staff from creating unofficial WhatsApp groups.
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Human rights lawyer Malcolm Omirhobo says the move violates Section 39 of the Constitution.
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He urges affected staff to challenge the directive in court as unconstitutional and unlawful.
A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Chief (Barr.) Malcolm Omirhobo, has strongly condemned the decision by the Delta State Maritime Polytechnic, Burutu, to restrict its staff from creating WhatsApp groups among themselves, describing the policy as unconstitutional and unlawful.
The school’s management had, in a memo dated June 11, 2025, titled “The Proliferation and Abuse of WhatsApp Platforms in the Institution and the Need to Streamline/Harmonise the Various Groups”, ordered all staff to desist from creating or operating unofficial WhatsApp platforms. The memo, signed by Mr. Ufuoma Oghovojah, Registrar and Secretary to the Governing Council, followed resolutions reached at the institution’s 43rd regular meeting.
According to the memo, the management cited abuse of the platforms by staff members, claiming they were being used to settle personal scores, challenge authority, and spread politically motivated content — all under the name of the institution without proper approval.
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The Council, therefore, directed that DESMAPOLY Staff Assembly would remain the sole official WhatsApp group for all staff. It further authorised departments, directorates, units, unions, cooperative societies, and cultural groups to create their own official platforms only for the dissemination of information.
In his reaction, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo said the institution has no legal right to prevent staff members from forming independent WhatsApp platforms.
He described the directive as a gross violation of the fundamental right to freedom of expression as enshrined in Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“Restricting staff to only DESMAPOLY’s social network and disbanding other existing platforms is a violation of the staff’s fundamental rights to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Section 39 of the Constitution and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights,” Omirhobo stated.
He insisted that such a move is not only illegal but unconstitutional and unenforceable in any democratic setting.
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“The management cannot legally monitor or dictate how staff communicate outside official channels, especially on private platforms such as WhatsApp. Doing so infringes on civil liberties,” he added.
The school management had justified the restriction by alleging that staff members had abused the proliferation of WhatsApp groups, using them as tools for division, insubordination, and unauthorised representation of the institution.
It stressed that official decorum was being undermined in these platforms and warned of the need for proper control.
