By George Mgbeleke<\/p>\n
Human rights activists and lawyers under the banner of the Legion of Mary Social Justice Troopers on Tuesday staged a protest at the Federal High Court in Abuja before marching to the embassies of the United States and South Africa, where they submitted petitions alleging widespread discrimination against Nigerians and other people of African descent within the United States judicial system.<\/p>\n
Carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Stop Discrimination Against Nigerians,” “Respect Due Process,” “Justice for African Descendants”Africa Must Rise,” and “End Judicial Bias Against Black Litigants,” the demonstrators called for what they described as an end to systemic injustice, racial discrimination, politically motivated visa restrictions and interference in the affairs of African nations.<\/p>\n
The protesters urged both the Nigerian government and the international community to pay closer attention to what they alleged were persistent violations of the rights of Africans seeking justice abroad, particularly in the United States.<\/p>\n
Addressing journalists during the protest, Barrister Okechukwu Okafor of Beverly Hills Chambers, one of the counsel in the pending suit before the Federal High Court, Abuja, said the demonstration was organised to draw public attention to what the group described as “emerging issues in access to due process by descendants of Africans in Europe and the United States.”<\/p>\n
According to him, the protest was also aimed at challenging what he termed “Western-imposed standards” which, in the view of the protesters, have continued to undermine Africa’s political, judicial and economic development.<\/p>\n
“Our protest is to enlighten Nigerians on what we consider the systematic denial of justice against descendants of Africans in Europe and the United States, as well as the weaponisation of state and federal courts to promote discrimination and undermine African countries economically,” Okafor said.<\/p>\n
He maintained that the protesters were demanding that the United States uphold fundamental human rights, restore visas allegedly revoked without justification and ensure that anti-discrimination cases involving Nigerians are heard and determined in accordance with due process.<\/p>\n
“We are calling on the United States to treat Nigerians fairly in courts of law, stop interfering in our politics and respect the rights of African litigants. We believe every individual, irrespective of race or nationality, deserves equal protection before the law,” he added.<\/p>\n
Explaining the background to the suit pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja, Okafor alleged that the American judicial system had consistently denied Black litigants fair hearing through judicial decisions that, according to him, shield White defendants from accountability.<\/p>\n
He argued that such practices violate both the United States Constitution and internationally recognised human rights principles.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said the campaign sought to expose what he described as a pattern of racial discrimination that allegedly extends beyond the courtroom to immigration policies, economic opportunities and access to justice.<\/p>\n
According to him, the protesters believe that visa restrictions, judicial decisions and economic policies have collectively limited opportunities for Africans and weakened the continent’s development.<\/p>\n
He further cited provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, arguing that actions allegedly directed against Black communities should attract greater international scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Among the grievances raised by the protesters were allegations of racial discrimination, visa revocations, judicial misconduct, police brutality, economic exclusion, unequal access to justice and what they described as systematic efforts to frustrate Black litigants pursuing civil claims in the United States.<\/p>\n
Okafor claimed that members of his legal team had experienced what they considered unfair judicial treatment in several civil cases involving allegations of racial discrimination, commercial disputes and contractual disagreements filed before American courts.<\/p>\n
According to him, some of the cases were either delayed or dismissed despite what the legal team considered substantial evidence in support of the claims.<\/p>\n
He also alleged that officials of the United States Supreme Court declined to properly process certain legal filings submitted by their clients, thereby denying litigants what he described as a full opportunity to ventilate their grievances before the nation’s highest court.<\/p>\n
As part of his submissions, Okafor referred to documents relating to proceedings before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, including orders denying petitions for rehearing in one appeal and rejecting a motion seeking to vacate an earlier order in another case.<\/p>\n
The protesters equally criticised what they described as the use of visa policies to frustrate Nigerians pursuing legal remedies in the United States.<\/p>\n
According to Okafor, one of the plaintiffs involved in the litigation allegedly had her United States visa revoked despite travelling with what he said was a valid Nigerian passport and visa.<\/p>\n
He claimed the action prevented the plaintiff from pursuing ongoing litigation and amounted to a denial of access to justice.<\/p>\n
The lawyer further alleged that efforts to secure intervention from Nigerian authorities, Interpol and the International Criminal Court had not produced the desired outcome, prompting the group to seek judicial intervention in Nigeria while simultaneously embarking on peaceful public advocacy.<\/p>\n
Also speaking during the protest, Ms. Adaeze Nwosu, one of the principal figures behind the campaign, said the movement was intended to raise awareness about what she described as systemic obstacles confronting people of African descent seeking justice in Western jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
According to her, the campaign seeks the deconstruction of what she termed Western-imposed standards that allegedly hinder Africa’s progress in areas such as trade, investment, judicial cooperation and mobility.<\/p>\n
She maintained that the protesters were demanding restoration of visas allegedly revoked without due process, equal treatment for Nigerians before foreign courts and respect for the rights of African litigants.<\/p>\n
Nwosu also alleged that racial discrimination within the United States justice system had made it increasingly difficult for Black litigants to obtain remedies in civil cases involving discrimination, commercial disputes and other legal claims.<\/p>\n
She argued that the issues raised by the protesters extended beyond individual lawsuits to broader concerns about fairness, equality and international justice.<\/p>\n
The activists further urged the Nigerian government to take stronger diplomatic steps to defend citizens facing discrimination abroad and ensure that bilateral relations with foreign countries are founded on mutual respect, equality before the law and adherence to internationally accepted human rights standards.<\/p>\n
Among the demands contained in the petitions submitted to the Federal High Court and the diplomatic missions were calls for the expeditious hearing of the pending Abuja suit, restoration of visas allegedly revoked unlawfully, protection of Nigerians pursuing legal claims overseas and greater respect for the rights of African citizens within foreign judicial systems.<\/p>\n
The protesters insisted that the issues raised in their campaign deserved urgent attention from both Nigerian authorities and the international community, saying they would continue to pursue lawful means to seek redress over the concerns highlighted in their petitions.<\/p>\n
No official response had been issued by either the United States Embassy or the South African Embassy in Abuja as of the time of filing this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke Human rights activists and lawyers under the banner of the Legion of Mary Social Justice Troopers on Tuesday staged a protest at the Federal High Court in Abuja before marching to the embassies of the United States and South Africa, where they submitted petitions alleging widespread discrimination against Nigerians and other people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15757,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15755\/revisions\/15757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}