16.11.2025
Nigeria has been told to abolish blasphemy laws operated by some States in the country, following a judgement by the Economic Community of West African Court (ECOWAS) Court.
Nigeria being a signatory to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) was advised by court to abide by its constitutional guaranteed freedom of expression, freedom of religion and right to life.
The ECOWAS court decision stems from an action brought against it by digital right lawyer and human activist Solomon Okedara.
The action challenged the consistent use and/or failure to prevent the use of criminal provisions bordering on the offence of blasphemy to arrest, arbitrarily detain, unlawfully prosecute, imprison and impose death sentence on citizens by the Nigerian government.
In a writ of execution signed by Yaouza Ouro-Sama, chief registrar of the Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS, the court wrote: “By this Writ, the Court is requesting the enforcement of its decision in respect of the matter against the Respondent, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The court had declared the provisions of both Section 210 of the Penal Code of Kano State and Section 382 (b) of Kano State Sharia Penal Code Law of 2000 as incompatible, with the obligation of the Nigerian government to guarantee the freedom of expression pursuant to Article 9 (2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The court consequently ordered the Nigerian government to repeal or amend the provisions of both Section 210 of the Penal Code of Kano State and Section 382(b) of Kano State Sharia Penal Code Law of 2000, as well as other similar provisions in its laws, to bring them in compliance with its obligations in Article 9 (2) of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The Nigerian government urged the court to dismiss the suit or strike it out for want of jurisdiction and for lack of merit. However, the court ruled that it had jurisdiction to entertain the action and ruled the action admissible. The court also declared that Section 210 of the Kano State Penal Code and Section 382(b) of the Kano State Sharia Penal Code Law (2000) were incompatible with Nigeria’s obligations to protect freedom of expression. The court consequently ordered the Federal Republic of Nigeria to repeal or amend the identified legal provisions and similar laws to align with Article 9(2) of the African Charter. With Business day reports