Government, Elite Weaponizing Cybercrime Act to Silence Dissent – NBA President

Mr. Afam Osigwe (SAN), President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has voiced alarm over the “weaponization” of the Cybercrimes Act to stifle free speech.

Speaking on ARISE TV’s Prime Time on Wednesday monitored by Persecondnews, Osigwe argued that the law is being used as a front to silence journalists, activists, and dissenting citizens under the guise of policing defamation and cyber threats.

The NBA chief pointed out that individuals are frequently detained and investigated for offenses that should be bailable, suggesting a deliberate effort to suppress opposition.

Osigwe’s comments come at a tipping point in the national debate over the Cybercrimes Act.

While the law—first passed in 2015 and updated in 2024—was designed to tackle cyberterrorism and online fraud, its implementation has sparked controversy.

Critics contend that its “cyberstalking” clauses are dangerously vague, serving as a legal loophole to target activists and journalists for exposing corruption or voicing dissent.

Furthermore, Osigwe criticized the judiciary for its perceived complicity in allowing these legal maneuvers to persist.

“Free speech is being muzzled in Nigeria under the guise of charging people to court and investigating them for cyber crime and criminal defamation.

“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.

These actions, according to him, have transformed the courts into “an oppressive tool.”

Osigwe declared: “This is a violation of the right to freedom of expression and an abuse of the 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.

“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.”