Nigerian LGBT Activist, Pamela Adie Sues CAC Over Refusal To Register Her NGO

A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) activist, Pamela Adie, had in 2018 sued the CAC for refusing to register the non-profit organisation but lost the case.

Now Adie a filmmaker and 2018 Obama Foundation Leader is back with a fresh update on the lawsuit filed before the Court of Appeal, which she announced on social media platform, Twitter.

According to her, the refusal of the CAC to register her organization for being offensive is an infringement on her constitutional right to freedom of association.

She wrote:

“NOTICE OF APPEAL FILED IN THE CASE OF PAMELA ADIE vs. CAC Background: As some of you may be aware, I applied to register a nonprofit called Lesbian Equality & Empowerment Initiative(LEEI) but was denied by the Nigerian govt. agency, Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC), because it said “Lesbian” was offensive.

“I felt this was an infringement of my constitutional Right to Freedom of Association. My team and I filed a suit against CAC in 2018 at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

“In the same year, the Honorable court delivered a judgment in favor of CAC and cited the discriminatory Section 4 of the Same S-ex Marriage (Prohibition) Act of 2013 as a reason for denial of my constitutional right to Freedom of Association.

“As law-abiding citizens of this great country, Nigeria, we are pursuing all available legal options and have filed a notice of appeal at the Federal Court of Appeal in Abuja, Nigeria. This marks the beginning of the appeal process.

Some of you have reached out to ask about the case. If you would like to stay updated, please follow @LeeiNigeria here and on all our social media platforms(Twitter, IG, Facebook). We will be actively sharing more information and how you can support the case.

I thank everyone who has supported our pursuit for justice and fairness as we follow due process to ensure that the constitutionally guaranteed right to Freedom of Association is enjoyed by EVERY Nigerian. Thank you. – Pamela Adie