By Gift ChapiOdekina, Abuja

Stakeholders drawn from the media, legal profession, civil society and policy circles have raised alarm over the increasing use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) to intimidate journalists, activists and citizens in Nigeria, warning that the trend poses a grave threat to press freedom and democratic accountability.

The concerns were raised on Tuesday in Abuja at a Stakeholder Validation Meeting convened by Hope Behind Bars Africa with support from the National Endowment for Democracy to validate a technical report on laws, judicial practices and case precedents enabling SLAPPs in Nigeria.

The meeting, brought together journalists, legal practitioners, academics, civil society organisations, policymakers and development partners to examine findings from a nationwide study on the growing weaponisation of legal processes against critics, human rights defenders and members of the public.

Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Grace Ike, in her opening remarks, condemned all forms of intimidation against journalists, insisting that press freedom remains central to the survival of democracy.

She reaffirmed the union’s zero-tolerance stance on attacks against media practitioners and called for stronger institutional safeguards to protect journalists from harassment through the courts.

Programs Manager at Hope Behind Bars Africa, Hassan Nurudeen, said the organisation had continued to document and confront the misuse of legal mechanisms designed to silence dissenting voices across the country.

Also speaking, Adebayo Aare of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development said data gathered by the organisation showed a sharp rise in attacks against journalists in the past year, blaming weak judicial processes and delayed justice for enabling the trend.

Presenting the findings of the study, research consultant Ogechi Ogu said the report revealed that existing laws, particularly the Cybercrimes Act 2015, were increasingly being weaponised to suppress free expression and shrink civic space.

According to her, allegations bordering on cyberstalking, cyberbullying and criminal defamation have become common tools deployed against journalists and critics.

The study further found that state institutions and judicial processes were frequently compromised in SLAPP-related cases, with many suits deliberately filed to intimidate targets rather than secure convictions.

She noted that because several of the cases were abandoned midway, researchers had to rely heavily on media documentation rather than formal judicial records, which typically capture only cases that proceed to final judgment.

The report recommended urgent amendments to existing legal provisions, reforms within the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, establishment of SLAPP tracking mechanisms, and the enactment of dedicated anti-SLAPP legislation in Nigeria.

Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong accused state institutions of enabling harassment through abuse of police powers and judicial loopholes.

He specifically identified provisions within Abuja’s Penal Code as being exploited to initiate SLAPP suits and proposed the creation of a National Anti-SLAPP Endowment Fund to support victims and strengthen legal resistance against abusive litigation.

The meeting also featured the unveiling of the “SLAPPs Monitor,” a digital platform designed to provide case tracking, data visualisation and analytical insights into SLAPP incidents across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Organisers said the platform would also allow victims to report cases and access pro bono legal services.

The event ended with a call on lawyers and civil society organisations to join a newly established national Legal Defence Network aimed at building a coordinated legal protection system for victims of SLAPPs across the country.