Human rights lawyer, Chief Femi Falana, SAN, has taken the Federal Government to the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice over alleged unlawful arrests, detention, travel restrictions and other violations of his fundamental rights.
In suit No. ECW/CCJ/APP/30/2026 filed in Abuja, Falana accused successive military administrations of a prolonged pattern of rights abuses against him.
He alleged that Nigerian authorities violated his rights to personal liberty, dignity, fair hearing, property and freedom of movement at different times from the 1980s to the 1990s.
The rights lawyer is seeking declarations that the alleged actions were unlawful and an award of US$10 million in damages.
Though allegations have not been determined by the court, Falana is asking it to assess the conduct of the authorities under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and applicable ECOWAS legal instruments.
A former president of the West African Bar Association, he said his first major encounter with authorities occurred during his National Youth Service Corps year in Oyo State in 1982–1983.
According to the application, he represented University of Ibadan students charged with conspiracy and attempted murder after a dispute involving the university’s vice chancellor.
Falana alleged that authorities withheld his NYSC discharge certificate because he defended the students without official permission, even though the case was eventually decided in their favour.
The suit stated: “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.”
It identified the case as Andrew Ogor & Ors v Chief Magistrate Emmanuel Kolawole & Anor (1983) NCLR 142.
Falana’s application next recounted 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 took him to his law chambers, searched the premises without a warrant and found nothing incriminating.
He added: “No reason was adduced for his arrest by the NSO,” the application states. It further alleges that Falana was held without trial for seven weeks at the NSO facility at 15 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, alongside other political detainees, in “dehumanizing conditions.”
The application quoted Falana as saying that he was released on August 30, 1985, following the military coup that removed General Muhammadu Buhari from office and brought General Ibrahim Babangida to power. Babangida’s government later changed the NSO’s name to the State Security Service (SSS) and established the Justice Samson Uwaifo Panel to investigate detentions.
Falana said he appeared before the panel in Lagos. He faulted the explanation for his detention given in the panel’s white paper, which, according to his application, attributed it to his handling of the case of musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who had been charged with foreign exchange sabotage.
“The State Security Service deliberately misled the Justice Uwaifo Panel concerning the detention of the Applicant,” the suit alleged, arguing that Isola Kanmi-Osobu, who had led Falana in Fela’s defence, was neither arrested nor detained.
The application also described restrictions on Falana’s freedom of movement. It alleges that on October 14, 1991, the SSS prevented him from travelling to Harare, Zimbabwe, to attend a human rights conference and confiscated his international passport for six months. Falana says his paper was read at the conference by lawyer Olisa Agbakoba.
The filing separately alleged that Falana was abducted from his Lagos home at about 2 a.m. on April 8, 1990, by SSS officials, driven towards the Lagos–Epe road and abandoned in a bush. It says he found his way to Epe and returned to Lagos.
The SSS denied involvement, according to the application, but Falana says the military government rejected his request for an investigation.
Falana’s claims also cover his arrest in May 1992, alongside Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti and Baba Omojola.
The application added that Falana was arrested at the Lagos State High Court on May 19 and held for two days at Bar Beach police station before being flown to Abuja on May 21.
He and the others were then taken to Kuje Correctional Centre.
A week later, the suit says, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) was arrested and brought to Kuje after filing applications seeking the detainees’ release.
According to Falana, a judge ordered his release on June 8, 1992, but the military government did not comply.
“The Ibrahim Babangida military junta ensured that the order for Applicant’s release was disobeyed without any legal basis,” the application states.
Falana, Fawehinmi, Ransome-Kuti and Omojola were later taken to the Gwagwalada Chief Magistrate Court and charged with conspiracy and treasonable felony over an alleged attempt to overthrow the Babangida government.
The application said Olusegun Maiyegun, then president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, was also charged.
It alleged that the defendants were held incommunicado and prevented from engaging lawyers of their choice.
Falana and Fawehinmi, had to represent themselves and the other defendants without access to essential law books, the application says. Prosecutors opposed their bail applications, allegedly on the military government’s instructions and “without any basis.”
The suit said a fundamental-rights application led to an order for Falana’s release, but that the order was not initially honoured. It 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 detentions.
Falana further alleged that he, Fawehinmi and Ransome-Kuti were arrested and charged after they publicly opposed the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. The charges included conspiracy, sedition and incitement, according to the application.
It said court orders granting bail were not initially obeyed and that the three remained in detention until their release in August 1993.
The application recounted further arrests and detentions between 1994 and 1998, linking them to Falana’s return from international human rights engagements, his advocacy concerning the trial of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) leaders, and his labour and human rights work.
In one incident, Falana alleges 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.
The suit also cited former military president Babangida’s memoir, A Journey in Service, published in February 2025. Falana argues that Babangida’s acknowledgment in the book that Moshood Abiola won the June 12, 1993 election is significant because activists, including Falana, had been arrested and prosecuted for publicly challenging the annulment and publishing election results.
Falana said no apology or effective remedy has followed for the arrests, detention and prosecution 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 redress for the violations complained of.
The reliefs Falana is asking the ECOWAS Court to grant include declarations that his arrests between 1985 and 1996 were unlawful and violated his right to personal liberty under Article 6 of the African Charter.
He also wants the court to declare the alleged 1990 abduction unlawful under Articles 4 and 5, which protect dignity and personal liberty, and to rule that his detention in various facilities violated his rights.
Those facilities listed in the application include the former NSO facility at 15 Awolowo Road in Lagos, Kuje Correctional Centre, an Immigration Service detention facility at Alagbon in Ikoyi, an SSS facility at 15 Awolowo Road and Hadejia Correctional Centre in Jigawa State.
Falana further prayed the court to find that the 1991 travel ban violated his freedom of movement under Article 12, and that the alleged seizure of his NYSC discharge certificate and international passport violated his property rights under Article 14. He also seeks declarations that his 1992 and 1993 arraignments violated his right to fair hearing under Article 7.