President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Afam Osigwe, SAN, has raised alarm over what he described as the misuse of the Cybercrimes Act to stifle free speech in Nigeria.
Speaking on ARISE Television’s Prime Time programme on Wednesday night, Osigwe accused authorities of weaponising the law against journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens who express dissent. “Free speech is being muzzled in Nigeria under the guise of charging people to court and investigating them for cyber crime and criminal defamation,” he said.
He noted that individuals are being detained for offences that are ordinarily bailable, alleging that judges and magistrates are increasingly acting as tools in the hands of politicians. “Even when the matters are ordinarily bailable, judges and magistrates refuse bail even where there is no basis. The courts are becoming an oppressive tool,” he added.
Osigwe warned that such practices undermine democracy, stressing that public officials should be held accountable rather than shielded from criticism. “If our judges become willing tools in giving them what they desire, to put critics out of circulation, then the judiciary itself becomes an oppressor,” he said.
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