The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a legal action against President Bola Tinubu’s administration and the 36 state governors of Nigeria, challenging the ‘repressive use’ of the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2024 to curtail freedom of expression and media rights.

The suit, filed before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, alleged that the law is being weaponized to criminalize legitimate speech and suppress dissent.

The case, designated ECW/CCJ/APP/03/2025, is seeking to address what SERAP describes as the arbitrary, vague, and repressive provisions of the 2024 amendment, which it claims have been routinely abused to target activists, journalists, bloggers, and social media users.

SERAP argued that these provisions contradict Nigeria’s obligations under international human rights treaties, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The controversy stems from the ECOWAS Court’s judgment on March 25, 2022, which declared Section 24 of the original Cybercrime Act 2015 as arbitrary, vague, and repressive.

The court ordered the Nigerian authorities to repeal the section in line with their human rights commitments. While the 2024 amendment repealed Section 24, SERAP contended that the new law retains provisions that remain equally problematic and open to abuse.