By Ade Oyeyemi
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has instituted a suit against the Federal Republic of Nigeria before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, seeking $10m in damages over alleged unlawful arrests, prolonged detention and restrictions on his movement.
The suit, numbered ECW/CCJ/APP/30/2026, was filed in Abuja and concerns a series of alleged violations Falana says he suffered under successive military administrations between the 1980s and 1990s.
In his application, the lawyer is asking the regional court to declare that the alleged actions of Nigerian authorities violated rights guaranteed under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other applicable ECOWAS legal instruments.
The allegations contained in the suit are yet to be determined by the court.
Falana traced his confrontation with the authorities to his National Youth Service Corps programme in Oyo State between 1982 and 1983. He alleged that his NYSC discharge certificate was withheld after he represented students of the University of Ibadan who were facing criminal charges.
He further alleged that he was arrested on June 8, 1985, by armed operatives of the then National Security Organisation at the Lagos State High Court. According to him, the operatives subsequently searched his law chambers without a warrant and detained him for about seven weeks at the NSO facility on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The lawyer also recounted an alleged abduction on April 8, 1990, when officials of the State Security Service reportedly took him from his Lagos residence in the early hours of the morning, drove him towards the Lagos-Epe road and abandoned him in a bush.
Falana alleged that although the SSS denied involvement in the incident, the military authorities failed to act on his request for an investigation.
He also claimed that his international passport was seized in 1991, preventing him from travelling to Harare, Zimbabwe, to attend a human rights conference. He said lawyer Olisa Agbakoba subsequently delivered his paper at the event.
Another incident cited in the application occurred in May 1992, when Falana said he was arrested alongside the late human rights activist, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, and Baba Omojola at the Lagos State High Court.
The three men were allegedly taken to Abuja and detained at Kuje Correctional Centre. Falana claimed that despite a court order directing his release on June 8, 1992, the military government failed to immediately comply with the order.
The suit also referenced the arrest of the late human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, after he filed applications seeking the release of the detainees.
Falana, Fawehinmi, Ransome-Kuti and Omojola were subsequently charged with conspiracy and treasonable felony over an alleged plot to overthrow the military administration of Gen Ibrahim Babangida.
According to the application, the men were held incommunicado and denied access to lawyers of their choice, while prosecutors opposed their applications for bail.
Falana further cited arrests and prosecutions linked to his opposition to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. He alleged that he, Fawehinmi and Ransome-Kuti were arrested and charged with offences including conspiracy, sedition and incitement.
The application states that some court orders granting bail were allegedly not obeyed promptly.
The lawyer also listed several other arrests between 1994 and 1998, which he linked to his human rights activities, labour engagements, international advocacy and campaigns over the trial of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other leaders of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People.
In one of the incidents, Falana alleged that he and nine others were arrested in March 1998 after he delivered a paper at a labour workshop. He said the case was eventually abandoned and struck out for lack of diligent prosecution.
Falana also referred to former military Head of State Ibrahim Babangida’s memoir, A Journey in Service, published in February 2025, arguing that Babangida’s acknowledgement that Moshood Abiola won the June 12, 1993 presidential election was significant in the context of the arrests and prosecutions of activists who opposed the election’s annulment.
The human rights lawyer argued that he had not received an adequate apology or effective remedy for the alleged violations.
Among other reliefs, Falana is asking the ECOWAS Court to declare that the alleged arrests and detentions violated his rights to personal liberty, dignity, fair hearing, property and freedom of movement.
He is also seeking a declaration that the alleged 1990 abduction was unlawful and that the seizure of his NYSC discharge certificate and international passport amounted to violations of his property rights.
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Falana is demanding $10m in damages over the alleged violations by Nigerian authorities, particularly those said to have occurred between 1985 and 1996.
The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, which has jurisdiction over human-rights claims arising under applicable regional instruments, has yet to determine the allegations contained in Falana’s application.
