Description
This suit was brought under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules by a legal practitioner against his former intimate partner, alleging that she systematically recorded their private interactions without consent and used the digital archives for leverage, extortion, and intimidation following the breakdown of their relationship.
Justice O.A. Musa ruled entirely in favor of the Applicant, delivering a forward-looking exposition on the evolution of digital privacy jurisprudence in Nigeria:
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Informational Autonomy: Defined privacy under Section 37 as encompassing a citizen’s right to control the collection, preservation, and dissemination of their deeply personal exchanges, emotional disclosures, and vulnerabilities.
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Digital Realities: Rejected narrow interpretations limiting privacy protection to physical territory (the home) or traditional intercepts (hacking/wiretapping), extending constitutional safeguards to unauthorized permanent electronic archiving.
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The Element of Consent: Concluded that while a participant is privy to a conversation, turning that interaction into a permanent, hidden evidential repository for future strategic deployment fundamentally destroys personal autonomy and human dignity.
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Evidential and Professional Ethics: Struck out the Respondent’s counter-affidavit as inadmissible documentary hearsay because it was sworn to by her legal counsel rather than herself, emphasizing that counsel cannot simultaneously act as advocate and chief witness on highly contentious personal facts.
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