The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the ECOWAS Court to order the Nigerian government to immediately repeal or amend Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024.
SERAP argues this is necessary to align with Nigeria’s obligations under Article 1 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other relevant human rights treaties.
SERAP disclosed the nature of the lawsuit in a statement released on Sunday.
Section 24 in dispute states that any person who intentionally sends false messages via computer systems or networks, with the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order, a threat to life, or related disruptions, shall be liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding N7,000,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.
SERAP’s Case
In its lawsuit against President Bola Tinubu’s government and Nigeria’s 36 governors, SERAP argues that the alleged repressive use of the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2024 to criminalize legitimate expression violates the human rights of Nigerians, including activists, journalists, bloggers, and social media users.
In suit no. ECW/CCJ/APP/03/2025, SERAP states: “What constitutes ‘causing a breakdown of law and order’ in Section 24(1)(b) of the amended legislation is unclear and undefined, threatening to punish peaceful and legitimate expression and opening the provisions up to abuse.”
- SERAP further claims that Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Amendment) Act 2024, in addition to its alleged arbitrary, vague, and repressive nature, broadly defines ‘cyberstalking’ in Section 58 as a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.
- The advocacy group argues that these provisions represent a harshly punitive approach to addressing issues of stalking and harassment, failing to provide sufficient safeguards against misuse, especially for peaceful and legitimate exercises of human rights.
Among the reliefs sought by SERAP are:
- A declaration that the provisions of Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 are unlawful, inconsistent, and incompatible with Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- A declaration that the actions of the Defendant and its law enforcement agencies in arbitrarily applying and enforcing Section 24 to harass, intimidate, arrest, detain, unfairly prosecute, and imprison journalists, bloggers, social media users, and other Nigerians threaten and/or violate the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, information, privacy, and media freedom guaranteed under the African Charter and the International Covenant.
- An order directing the Defendant to immediately repeal and/or amend Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 in line with Nigeria’s human rights obligations.
SERAP’s lawyers, led by Kolawole Oluwadare, urged the court to hold that the government ought to protect advocacy and media groups in accordance with human rights standards.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the lawsuit .
Backstory
It should be recalled that on 25 March 2022, the ECOWAS Court ordered Nigerian authorities to stop using Section 24 of the Cybercrime Act 2015 to prosecute individuals for insulting or stalking public officials online.
- The Court described the section as “arbitrary, vague, and repressive” and directed its repeal.
- That section of the 2015 Act was later repealed and updated in the Cybercrime (Amendment) Act 2024.
However, SERAP insists the new legislation has not addressed the alleged arbitrary and repressive nature of the provisions, prompting the current lawsuit.
