Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government of Nigeria at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, demanding $10 million in damages over decades of alleged arrests and rights violations.
The suit, filed in Abuja, targets the Nigerian state for a prolonged pattern of unlawful detention, travel restrictions, and property violations. The allegations span the military regimes of the 1980s and 1990s, a period marked by strict military rule and limited civil liberties for citizens.
In the application, Falana details a series of specific incidents, starting with his early career defending University of Ibadan students. He claims authorities seized his NYSC discharge certificate simply because he represented the students without official permission, even though the case was ultimately decided in their favor.
The suit states: “Even though the Applicant completed the service, the Authorities of the National Youth Service Corps seized his Discharge Certificate for defending the students without official permission.”
The legal filing goes further to recount a series of escalating confrontations between the young lawyer and successive military governments.
According to the court documents, Falana was arrested on June 8, 1985, by armed agents of the then National Security Organisation (NSO) right inside the Lagos State High Court. The agents reportedly searched his law chambers without a warrant and found nothing incriminating.
The application details how he was held without trial for seven weeks in harsh conditions. “No reason was adduced for his arrest by the NSO,” the filing notes. He was only released later that year following a military coup that changed the government.
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The lawsuit also highlights severe restrictions on his freedom of movement. In October 1991, security agents reportedly prevented him from traveling to a human rights conference in Zimbabwe and confiscated his international passport for six months.
A year earlier, in April 1990, Falana alleges he was abducted from his Lagos home at 2 a.m. by security officials, driven toward the Lagos-Epe road, and abandoned in a bush. The military government reportedly rejected his request for an investigation into the incident.
When Falana, alongside the late Gani Fawehinmi and activist Ransome-Kuti, publicly opposed the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, they were arrested again. They faced charges of conspiracy and sedition.
“The Ibrahim Babangida military junta ensured that the order for Applicant’s release was disobeyed without any legal basis,” the application states, noting that court orders granting bail were initially ignored by the authorities.
Falana is now asking the regional court to declare these historical actions unlawful. He wants the court to rule that his detention in various facilities, including the former NSO headquarters in Ikoyi and the Kuje Correctional Centre, violated his fundamental rights under Article 6 of the African Charter.
He is seeking $10 million in damages for the cumulative effect of these violations. This legal action adds a new, formal chapter to Falana’s lifelong battle against state impunity, shifting the focus from domestic courts to a regional tribunal to seek redress for past wrongs.
Promise Idoko is Junior Reporter working with moderncrux He covers global politics and international affairs. Based in Nigeria,
