Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has instituted a suit against the Federal Republic of Nigeria before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, seeking US$10 million in damages over alleged prolonged violations of his fundamental rights under successive military administrations.
The suit, numbered ECW/CCJ/APP/30/2026, was filed in Abuja, according to the application, in which Falana accused Nigerian authorities of subjecting him to a series of unlawful arrests, prolonged detention, restrictions on his freedom of movement, seizure of official documents and other alleged violations between the 1980s and 1990s.
Falana is asking the regional court to make declarations that the actions complained of were unlawful and violated rights guaranteed under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and applicable ECOWAS legal instruments.
The allegations are contained in Falana’s application and have not been determined by the court.
The senior lawyer, who was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1982 and later served as president of the West African Bar Association, traced his confrontation with government authorities to his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) year in Oyo State between 1982 and 1983.
According to the application, Falana represented students of the University of Ibadan who had been charged with conspiracy and attempted murder following a dispute involving the university’s vice chancellor.
Falana alleged that despite completing his national service, authorities withheld his NYSC discharge certificate because he had defended the students without obtaining official permission.
The application states that the case, Andrew Ogor & Ors v Chief Magistrate Emmanuel Kolawole & Anor (1983) NCLR 142, was eventually decided in favour of the students.
“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’s claims further relate to his arrest on June 8, 1985, at the Lagos State High Court by armed agents of the then National Security Organisation (NSO).
He alleged that the agents subsequently took him to his law chambers, where they conducted a search without a warrant but found nothing incriminating.
According to the application, no reason was given for his arrest and he was detained for seven weeks at the NSO facility at 15 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, alongside other political detainees.
Falana described the conditions of detention as “dehumanizing,” according to the filing.
He said he was released on August 30, 1985, following the military coup that removed General Muhammadu Buhari from power and brought General Ibrahim Babangida to office.
The application states that the Babangida administration subsequently changed the name of the NSO to the State Security Service (SSS) and established the Justice Samson Uwaifo Panel to investigate cases of detention.
Falana said he appeared before the panel in Lagos but disputed the explanation for his detention contained in the government’s white paper.
According to the application, the white paper linked his detention to his handling of the case involving the late musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who had been charged with foreign exchange-related offences.
Falana alleged that the SSS misled the Justice Uwaifo Panel about the circumstances of his detention, arguing that Isola Kanmi-Osobu, who had led the defence team in Fela’s case, was neither arrested nor detained.
The senior lawyer also challenged what he described as restrictions imposed on his freedom of movement.
The application states that on October 14, 1991, the SSS stopped Falana from travelling to Harare, Zimbabwe, where he was scheduled to attend a human rights conference.
His international passport was allegedly confiscated for six months.
Falana said he had prepared a paper for the conference, which was eventually presented by fellow lawyer Olisa Agbakoba.
The application also recounts an alleged abduction on April 8, 1990, when Falana said SSS officials took him from his Lagos residence at about 2am.
According to his account, he was driven towards the Lagos-Epe road and abandoned in a bush before finding his way to Epe and eventually returning to Lagos.
The SSS denied involvement in the incident, according to the application, while Falana said the military government rejected his request for an investigation.
His legal action also covers his arrest in May 1992 alongside Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti and Baba Omojola.
Falana alleged that he was arrested at the Lagos State High Court on May 19, 1992, detained for two days at Bar Beach Police Station and flown to Abuja on May 21 before being taken to Kuje Correctional Centre.
A week later, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, was allegedly arrested and taken to Kuje after filing applications seeking the release of the detainees.
According to Falana’s application, a court ordered his release on June 8, 1992, but the military government did not 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 alleged.
Falana, Fawehinmi, Ransome-Kuti and Omojola were subsequently taken before the Gwagwalada Chief Magistrate Court and charged with conspiracy and treasonable felony over an alleged attempt to overthrow the Babangida administration.
The then president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Olusegun Maiyegun, was also charged, according to the application.
Falana alleged that the defendants were held incommunicado and prevented from engaging lawyers of their choice.
He said he and Fawehinmi, both lawyers, were forced to represent themselves and the other defendants without access to essential law books.
The application further alleges that prosecutors opposed their bail applications on the instructions of the military government and without a legal basis.
Falana said a fundamental-rights application subsequently resulted in an order for his release, but the order was not immediately obeyed.
The application also refers to findings attributed to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and reports by Amnesty International concerning some of the arrests and periods of detention.
Falana further alleged that he, Fawehinmi and Ransome-Kuti were arrested and prosecuted after publicly opposing the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
The charges included conspiracy, sedition and incitement, according to the application.
He alleged that court orders granting bail were initially disobeyed and that the three men remained in detention until their release in August 1993.
The suit also recounts further arrests and detentions between 1994 and 1998, which Falana linked to his return from international human rights engagements, his advocacy concerning the trial of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other leaders of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), as well as his labour and human rights activities.
In one of the incidents, Falana alleged that he and nine other people were arrested in March 1998 after he delivered a paper at a labour workshop.
They were charged with conspiracy and unlawful assembly before a Chief Magistrate Court in Ilorin.
The case was later abandoned and struck out for want of diligent prosecution, according to the application.
Falana’s case also refers to former military president Ibrahim Babangida’s memoir, A Journey in Service, published in February 2025.
The senior lawyer argued that Babangida’s acknowledgment in the memoir that Moshood Abiola won the June 12, 1993 presidential election was significant because activists, including Falana, had been arrested and prosecuted for challenging the annulment and publishing election results.
Falana maintains that no apology or effective remedy has been provided for the arrests, detentions and prosecutions of those who opposed the annulment.
The application also refers to President Bola Tinubu’s attendance at the presentation of Babangida’s memoir and alleges that the Federal Government has not provided an apology or other form of redress for the violations complained of.
In the reliefs sought before the ECOWAS Court, Falana is asking for declarations that his arrests between 1985 and 1996 were unlawful and violated his right to personal liberty guaranteed under Article 6 of the African Charter.
He also wants the court to declare the alleged 1990 abduction unlawful under Articles 4 and 5 of the Charter, which protect the rights to dignity and personal liberty.
The application lists several facilities where Falana said he was detained, including the former NSO facility at 15 Awolowo Road, Lagos; Kuje Correctional Centre; an Immigration Service detention facility at Alagbon, Ikoyi; an SSS facility at 15 Awolowo Road; and Hadejia Correctional Centre in Jigawa State.
Falana is also asking the court to declare that the alleged 1991 travel ban violated his freedom of movement under Article 12 of the African Charter.
He further wants the alleged seizure of his NYSC discharge certificate and international passport declared a violation of his property rights under Article 14.
The senior lawyer is also seeking declarations that his 1992 and 1993 arraignments violated his right to fair hearing under Article 7 of the African Charter.
Ultimately, Falana is asking the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice to award him US$10 million in damages over what he describes as violations of his rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing, property and freedom of movement by Nigerian authorities between 1985 and 1996.
The ECOWAS Court is yet to determine the allegations and claims contained in the application.