Two Nigerian lawyers have sued promoters of the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) over allegations of electoral fraud and unlawful use of personal data.
The legal actions follow the recent election conducted by the NLS, a breakaway association formed as an alternative to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), to elect its national officers.
In one of the suits, marked FHC/ABJ/05/1506/2025 and filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, a lawyer, Timothy Tersugh Ahua, is challenging the conduct of the election and the legitimacy of the electoral process.
Ahua named several NLS promoters, including prominent lawyers, as defendants.
They include Senior Advocates, Chief Mela Audu Nunghe, Dr. Ugoji Eze, Secretary of the NLS Electoral Committee, and Chief Bolaji, Chairman of the NLS.
Others named in the suit are Ferguson Chioma Blessing, Chief Emeka Ichoku, and Tejumola Adigun.
Citing provisions of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules, Ahua is asking the court to declare that the NLS electoral process violated its constitution.
He is seeking a declaration that all unopposed candidates, including himself, be declared elected, as published by Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, the alternate Chairman of the NLS Electoral Committee.
Ahua claims he was duly nominated for the position of Secretary General but was unjustly excluded, accusing the defendants of hand-picking candidates in breach of the rules.
He further alleged that the exclusion caused him financial loss, reputational damage, and personal hardship, urging the court to correct what he described as a grave injustice.
In a separate suit before the Federal High Court in Abeokuta, another lawyer, Oluwadare Thomas, sued Chief Mela Nunghe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Ugoji Eze, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC), over alleged violation of his data privacy rights.
Thomas is asking the court to determine whether the use and publication of his personal data by NLS election officials without his consent amounts to a breach of Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution and the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
He also wants the court to consider whether the use of the NLS name for the election, despite a CAC notice and a pending suit, constitutes contempt of court and abuse of legal process.
He is seeking several declaratory and injunctive reliefs, including a court order restraining the continued use of his personal data and an order compelling NITDA and NDPC to investigate and sanction the respondents.
Thomas is also demanding N50m in compensation for the alleged unlawful processing and exposure of his personal information.
