Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has sued the Federal Republic of Nigeria before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, seeking $10m in damages over alleged violations of his fundamental rights during successive military administrations.
The case, marked ECW/CCJ/APP/30/2026, was filed in Abuja.
Mr Falana is asking the regional court to declare unlawful a series of alleged arrests, detentions, restrictions on his movement and an alleged abduction which he says occurred between the 1980s and 1990s.
He is also seeking declarations concerning alleged violations of his rights to personal liberty, dignity, fair hearing, property and freedom of movement under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and relevant ECOWAS legal instruments. (TheCable)
Arrests and detention
According to his application, Mr Falana’s confrontation with the authorities dates back to his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in Oyo State between 1982 and 1983.
He said he represented students of the University of Ibadan who were facing conspiracy and attempted murder charges, after which his NYSC discharge certificate was allegedly withheld because he had represented the students without official permission.
Mr Falana also alleges that armed agents of the then National Security Organisation arrested him at the Lagos State High Court on 8 June 1985 and subsequently searched his chambers without a warrant before taking him into detention.
He says he was detained for seven weeks alongside other political detainees and released on 30 August 1985, following the military coup that brought Ibrahim Babangida to power. (Naija News)
The lawyer further alleges that security officials prevented him from travelling to Zimbabwe in 1991 to attend a human rights conference by confiscating his international passport, which he says was kept for six months.
He also alleges that he was abducted from his Lagos residence in April 1990 by people he identified as officials of the State Security Service. According to his account, he was driven towards the Lagos-Epe road and abandoned in a bush before finding his way back to Lagos. (Naija News)
Mr Falana also cited his arrests and subsequent arraignments in 1992 and 1993, saying they amounted to further violations of his right to fair hearing.
$10m compensation sought
The lawyer is asking the ECOWAS court to award him $10m in damages for what he describes as violations of his fundamental rights by Nigerian authorities between 1985 and 1996.
He is also asking the court to determine whether the alleged actions breached protections guaranteed under the African Charter.
The allegations are contained in Mr Falana’s application and have not been determined by the ECOWAS Court. The court will have to consider the evidence and arguments before deciding whether the alleged violations occurred and whether any remedy should be awarded. (Independent Newspaper Nigeria)
