The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has filed a lawsuit against the Nigerian government the 36 states over the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2024.
SERAP is arguing that “the repressive use of the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2024 by the government to criminalize legitimate expression violate the human rights of Nigerians, including activists, journalists, bloggers and social media users”.
The suit was filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare, Mrs Adelanke Aremo and Andrew Nwankwo.
In the suit no: ECW/CCJ/APP/03/2025 filed last week before the ECOWAS court in Abuja, SERAP is challenging “the legality and compatibility of the provisions of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 with the rights to freedom of expression and information.”
According to SERAP, Nigerian authorities are routinely weaponizing it to curb Nigerians’ human rights and media freedom, insisting that the law would cause a reasonable person to feel fear in addition to its arbitrary, vague and repressive.
“The provisions of the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2024 represents a harshly punitive attempt to address the problems relating to stalking and harassment and fails to provide sufficient safeguards against misuse, particularly for peaceful and legitimate exercise of human rights.
“The use of section 24 of the Cybercrime (Amendment) Act 2024 to harass those who are deemed critical of the government directly threatens the staff, members and supporters of SERAP, particularly given the nature of the organization’s advocacy for human rights.”
“Nigerian authorities not only have a negative obligation to abstain from unduly interfering with human rights and media freedom but also have a positive obligation to facilitate and protect these rights,” part of the statement read.
SERAP further insisted that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and central to developing democracy.
