A prominent international human rights coalition has issued an urgent appeal condemning what it describes as escalating acts of intimidation, smear campaigns, and judicial harassment targeting the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).
The intervention comes in the wake of the civil society group’s persistent demands for transparency and accountability regarding alleged corruption within the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint initiative of the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation Against Torture, raised alarms over a recent High Court judgment penalising the anti-corruption watchdog.
On May 5, 2026, Justice Yusuf Halilu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory found the organisation liable for defamation, ordering it to pay 100 million naira in damages to two officials of the Department of State Services.
The lawsuit stemmed from a social media post in September 2024 detailing an unauthorised and unannounced visit by secret service agents to the group’s Abuja office, which occurred shortly after the organisation publicised criticisms of national petrol price hikes.
Although the advocacy group filed a Notice of Appeal and an application for a stay of execution on May 8, 2026, the international coalition reports that the pressure on the organisation has intensified.
The group continues to face coordinated smear campaigns through state-sponsored media outlets and protests demanding compliance with the judgment despite the pending legal appeal.
Furthermore, members of the advocacy team have reportedly received threatening messages from individuals believed to be linked to state security apparatuses, creating a chilling atmosphere that has left several staff members hesitant to return to the office out of fear of arbitrary arrest or detention.
The international rights coalition strongly condemned the weaponisation of defamation laws, characterizing the legal proceedings as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation designed to silence civic expression and hinder legitimate human rights monitoring.
The coalition noted that the ongoing targeting of the prominent watchdog, which recently filed another lawsuit against the national oil company over un-accounted expenditures totaling 5.9 billion naira, threatens to undermine the constitutional rights to freedom of expression and association across the country.
In its global appeal, the Observatory formally urged federal authorities to guarantee the physical and psychological safety of the advocacy group’s staff and ensure a fair, impartial appeal process.
The coalition called for an immediate cessation of all state-backed harassment against civil rights defenders and whistleblowers, while demanding that the government launch a thorough, independent investigation into the underlying allegations of fiscal mismanagement within the national petroleum sector.