By BONIFACE AKARAH

A Federal High Court in Abuja has commenced proceedings in a N66 trillion class action brought by a group describing itself as pioneers of Nigeria’s disability civil rights movement over alleged decadeof discrimination, marginalisation and systemic neglect of persons with disabilities.

The case, Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1824/2026, came before Justice Salim Olasupo Ibrahim on Thursday, November 5, 2026, with the claimants seeking general, structural and punitive damages on behalf of more than 40 million Nigerians with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.

According to a statement issued by the Pioneers of Nigeria’s Civil Rights Movement News Network, the claim is based on a valuation of N1 trillion for each of the 66 years since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, covering what the group described as institutionalised neglect, exclusion, state failure and historical trauma.

The claimants also include Almajiris, internally displaced persons, victims of human trafficking, wounded veterans and first responders, while the statement extends the alleged impact of structural exclusion to the wider Nigerian population.

Lead pro bono counsel, Barrister Victor S. Labesa Jr., appeared alongside Polaris Solicitors, led by Muhammad Muhammad Abubakar, before Justice Ibrahim for the opening hearing.

The plaintiffs argued that Nigeria had failed to move sufficiently from the traditional charity-based approach to disability rights despite the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) in 2006.

“It is deeply tragic and unacceptable that twenty years after the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) on December 13, 2006, which explicitly mandated a global movement away from viewing persons with disabilities as mere ‘objects’ of charity, medical treatment, and social protection toward viewing them as ‘subjects’ with rights capable of making decisions for their own lives based on free and informed consent, Nigeria’s Federal Government, 36 State Governments, the FCT, 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and its towns/villages, continue a 66-year-old bad culture of treating 40 million citizens strictly, as charitable burdens,” the statement said.

The group alleged that successive administrations had failed to fully implement various provisions of the UN CRPD, including those relating to equality, non-discrimination, legal capacity, access to justice, participation in public life and monitoring.

It further linked what it called a “trauma-insecurity pipeline” to insecurity, terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, food insecurity and displacement, arguing that the mental health consequences of these challenges had not received adequate recognition or culturally appropriate treatment.

The action also contains allegations concerning internal governance within the disability community. The plaintiffs accused some individuals of operating under what they described as an unregistered 2011 JONAPWD Constitution and referred to a 2023 judgment of the High Court of Cross River State in Suit No. HC/336/2022.

The statement claimed that Justice Ayade E. Ayade described the unregistered document as a “worthless paper” and that the judgment recognised the 2008 CAC-registered constitution as the valid governing charter.

The plaintiffs further alleged that elections, tenure arrangements and other administrative actions carried out under the disputed document were invalid.

“In addition to state discrimination, this suit directly confronts the bad culture of impunity, corporate usurpation, and internal fraud within the Nigerians with disabilities (PWD) community itself,” the statement said.

The group said its case would rely on Nigerian constitutional provisions, domestic legislation implementing international treaties and foreign authorities on large-scale class actions and court-supervised mediation.

Among the authorities cited were Abacha v. Fawehinmi, the Supreme Court decision in AG Kogi State & 18 Ors v. AGF, and the US litigation arising from NFL players’ concussion claims.

The plaintiffs said they wanted the Federal High Court to consider a court-ordered mediation and oversight framework similar to that used in the US concussion litigation.

The statement also announced a nationwide Freedom of Information campaign ahead of the next hearing, scheduled for January 27, 2027.

The claimants said they planned to use the Freedom of Information Act 2011 to seek financial records and other documents covering decades of public expenditure and allocations relating to disability and vulnerable populations, with the stated aim of preparing evidence for possible mediation.

“AFTER 66 YEARS OF STATE-SANCTIONED CHARITY, 20 YEARS OF UN CRPD BETRAYAL, AND 13 YEARS OF INTERNAL CORPORATE IMPUNITY, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. THE FINAL JUDICIAL RECKONING HAS BEGUN,” the statement declared.

The N66 trillion figure and the allegations contained in the statement are claims by the plaintiffs. The statement did not indicate that the Federal High Court had, at the opening hearing, made any finding validating the amount claimed, the alleged discrimination or the other substantive allegations.

The case is expected to return before Justice Ibrahim on January 27, 2027.