Under President Bola Tinubu, Nigeria is witnessing a growing wave of legal and political repression aimed at curbing dissent. The new administration has adopted tactics that echo those used during the Muhammadu Buhari era, including the weaponisation of the criminal justice system and the Department of State Services (DSS) to silence critics.
Restrictions on civic space need not involve overt displays of force. Instead, they can take subtler, but equally dangerous, forms such as arbitrary arrests, unlawful surveillance, unfair prosecutions and strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs). Recent cases involving the Socio‑Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Professor Pat Utomi and opposition activist‑journalist Omoyele Sowore illustrate how the judicial machinery is increasingly being misused to stifle peaceful dissent.
Founded in 2004, SERAP has long used advocacy and public‑interest litigation to demand accountability and uphold the rule of law. The organisation successfully challenged Buhari’s 2022 Twitter suspension before the ECOWAS Court of Justice, secured an interim injunction in 2026 against the National Broadcasting Commission, and won other significant court victories, including a N30 million award for journalist Agba Jalingo’s arbitrary detention and a Federal High Court order to disclose $5 billion in recovered Abacha loot.
Despite its track record of defending human rights, SERAP is now facing judicial harassment from the very state institutions it has held accountable. The organisation once defended former EFCC chairman Nuhu Ribadu against removal and assassination attempts, and now, under Ribadu’s tenure as National Security Adviser, the DSS is using the courts to target SERAP and other critics.
In September 2024, SERAP called on President Tinubu to investigate corruption allegations at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. The next day, DSS officials reportedly entered SERAP’s Abuja office and demanded to see its directors. Two officials later sued SERAP for defamation, and in May 2026 the Federal Capital Territory High Court awarded N100 million in damages against the organisation, ordering an apology, costs and post‑judgment interest. SERAP has appealed and sought a stay of execution, arguing serious legal and evidential errors in the judgment.
“I have read the judgment against SERAP and, in my view, to say that it is the ultimate travesty of justice would be a disservice to that phrase, not least because of the serious legal and evidential concerns it raises and the apparent failure to properly assess key evidence and available defences.” – KOLAWOLE OLANIYAN
These developments raise troubling questions about Nigeria’s commitment to the rule of law, judicial independence and the protection of civil society. As the state increasingly turns its legal apparatus against dissent, the country’s democratic space appears to be shrinking under Tinubu’s watch.
<small>Source: Vanguard News — read the original story there.</small>
