The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, has sounded the alarm over what he described as the growing misuse of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act to suppress free expression and punish dissent, raising serious concerns about the future of democratic freedoms in the country.
Speaking on ARISE Television’s Prime Time programme on Wednesday, Osigwe said that the law, originally enacted in 2015 and amended in 2024 to tackle online fraud, cyberterrorism and related offences, was increasingly being applied not to combat genuine cyber offences, but instead to target critics, journalists, activists and ordinary citizens.
“Free speech is being muzzled in Nigeria under the guise of charging people to court and investigating them for cyber crime and criminal defamation,” Osigwe said, outlining his concerns over how authorities have interpreted and enforced the legislation.
The NBA president did not spare the judiciary, insisting that judges and magistrates were increasingly acting not as impartial arbiters of justice but as instruments in the hands of powerful interests. He argued that even in cases where the alleged offences were ordinarily bailable, courts were refusing bail without valid legal justification.
“Even when the matters are ordinarily bailable, judges and magistrates are increasingly appearing to be tools in the hands of politicians and ‘big men’ and refuse bail even where there is no basis for not granting bail,” he said.
Osigwe warned that when courts abandon their independence in this way, they risk being transformed from a safeguard of rights into “an oppressive tool.”
For Osigwe, the implications extend beyond individual cases: the misuse of the Cybercrime Act, he argued, represents a direct violation of the constitutional right to freedom of expression and a broader abuse of democratic space.
“Because these public office holders should be held to a higher standard of accountability, and if they deprive people of the ability to criticise and hold them to account, then democracy dies,” he warned. “If our judges become willing tools in giving them that which they desire, which is to put those people out of circulation, then there’s something wrong and the judiciary becomes a willing tool in the hands of the oppressors and thereby becomes an oppressor itself.”
Osigwe’s remarks come amid ongoing debates about the Cybercrimes Act, particularly provisions that critics say are vaguely worded and ripe for broad interpretation. Although the 2024 amendments were intended to update the law, sections such as those criminalising “cyberstalking” have drawn sustained criticism for their potential to be used against those simply sharing opinions or exposing corruption.
Civil society organisations have previously echoed similar concerns. Groups like the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) have urged the government to stop using the Cybercrimes Act to target journalists, bloggers and peaceful critics, warning that such practices send a “chilling message” about the state of rights under the current administration.
International observers have also weighed in, with envoys from countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Finland and Norway previously calling on Nigerian authorities to curb misuse of the law, saying it undermines both free speech and economic growth.
As public debate intensifies, legal experts, civil liberties groups and professional bodies like the NBA are pushing for a comprehensive review of the Cybercrimes Act to ensure it protects Nigerians from genuine cyber threats without trampling constitutional rights, a balance many say has yet to be found.
