Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the government of President Bola Tinubu and Nigeria’s 36 governors over what it said is “the repressive use of the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2024 to criminalize legitimate expression and violate the human rights of Nigerians, including activists, journalists, bloggers and social media users.”
The ECOWAS Court had in its judgment dated 25 March, 2022 “ordered Nigerian authorities to stop using section 24 of the Cybercrime Act 2015 to prosecute anyone on the grounds of insulting or stalking public officials online.”
The Court declared section 24 as “arbitrary, vague and repressive” and ordered Nigerian authorities “to repeal it in conformity with the country’s human rights obligations.” But while the Cybercrime (Amendment) Act 2024 has repealed section 24, it has not cured the arbitrary, vague and repressive nature of the provisions.
