Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has instituted a $10 million suit against the Federal Republic of Nigeria before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice over alleged violations of his fundamental rights during successive military regimes in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the suit marked ECW/CCJ/APP/30/2026 and filed in Abuja, Falana is asking the regional court to declare that his arrests, detentions, alleged abduction and restrictions on his movement during the period were unlawful.
He is also seeking $10 million in damages over alleged breaches of his rights to personal liberty, dignity, fair hearing, property and freedom of movement.
Falana wants the court to determine the alleged violations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and relevant ECOWAS legal instruments.
According to the application, his disputes with the authorities date back to his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in Oyo State between 1982 and 1983.
During the period, Falana represented students of the University of Ibadan who were prosecuted for conspiracy and attempted murder following a dispute involving the institution’s vice-chancellor.
He alleged that the NYSC authorities subsequently withheld his discharge certificate because he had represented the students without obtaining official approval.
“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 application stated.
Falana said the students eventually won the case.
The lawyer further alleged that in June 1985, armed officials of the then National Security Organisation (NSO) arrested him at the Lagos State High Court and searched his chambers without a warrant, but found nothing incriminating.
He said he was subsequently held for seven weeks at the NSO facility at 15 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, where he described the conditions as “dehumanising.”
According to him, he regained his freedom on 30 August 1985, following the military coup that brought General Ibrahim Babangida to power.
The Babangida administration subsequently renamed the NSO as the State Security Service (SSS) and constituted a panel headed by former judge Samson Uwaifo to investigate cases of detention.
Falana appeared before the panel but challenged the explanation contained in the government’s white paper on the reason for his detention.
He alleged that the SSS told the panel that his detention was linked to his role in defending the late musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who had been prosecuted over foreign exchange-related offences.
Falana, however, disputed the claim, arguing that Isola Kanmi-Osobu, who had led Fela’s defence, was neither arrested nor detained.
The senior lawyer also alleged that SSS officials abducted him from his Lagos residence at about 2am on 8 April 1990.
He said the officials drove him towards the Lagos-Epe Road before abandoning him in a bush, from where he eventually found his way to Epe and returned to Lagos.
Falana alleged that the SSS denied responsibility for the incident, while the military government failed to act on his request for an investigation.
In another incident, he said the SSS stopped him from travelling to Harare, Zimbabwe, in October 1991 to attend a human rights conference and confiscated his international passport for six months.
He is asking the ECOWAS court to hold that the restriction breached his right to freedom of movement guaranteed under Article 12 of the African Charter.
Falana further alleged that he, Beko Ransome-Kuti, brother of Fela Ransome-Kuti, and Baba Omojola were arrested on 19 May 1992, and detained before being transferred to Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja.
According to the application, the late human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi, was later arrested and taken to Kuje after seeking their release.
Falana said although a judge ordered his release on 8 June 1992, the Babangida administration failed to comply with the order.
“The Ibrahim Babangida military junta ensured that the order for applicant’s release was disobeyed without any legal basis,” the suit states.
Falana, Fawehinmi, Ransome-Kuti and Omojola were subsequently charged with conspiracy and treasonable felony over an alleged plot to overthrow the military government.
Falana alleged that they were detained incommunicado and denied the opportunity to choose their lawyers.
He further claimed that he, Fawehinmi and Ransome-Kuti were arrested and prosecuted after opposing the annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election.
The trio, according to the application, were charged with conspiracy, sedition and incitement.
Falana said court orders granting them bail were initially ignored, resulting in their continued detention until their release in August 1993.
The application also referred to findings from the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and reports by Amnesty International concerning some of the arrests.
Falana further argued that former military ruler Babangida’s acknowledgement in his 2025 memoir, A Journey in Service, that Moshood Abiola won the 12 June election was relevant to his case, given that activists were arrested and prosecuted for protesting the annulment.
The suit also alleges that Falana was subjected to further arrests and detention between 1994 and 1998 in connection with his human rights advocacy, labour activities, international engagements and involvement in matters relating to the trial of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other leaders of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).
In March 1998, he said he and nine other people were arrested after he delivered a paper at a labour workshop and subsequently charged with conspiracy and unlawful assembly.
The case was later struck out for want of diligent prosecution, according to the application.
Falana is asking the ECOWAS court to declare that his arrests between 1985 and 1996 breached his right to personal liberty under Article 6 of the African Charter.
He is also seeking declarations concerning the alleged 1990 abduction, the withholding of his NYSC discharge certificate, and the seizure of his passport, as well as alleged violations of his right to a fair hearing during the 1992 and 1993 proceedings.
He is asking the court to award him $10 million in damages over the alleged violations.
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