CITIZENS COMPASS— A human rights lawyer, Ikechukwu Obasi, has filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, against Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh.
The suit accused the actress of violating the rights of a female school child during what is described as a “vicious religious deliverance ritual.”
The suit, filed pursuant to the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, seeks several declarations and orders against Dikeh, including ₦200 million in damages for alleged violations of the child’s rights to dignity and privacy.
Obasi filed the suit on behalf of the minor, a Junior Secondary School 1 student of Junior Secondary School, Durumi II, Abuja, who is originally from Rivers State.
According to the affidavit attached to the originating motion, the incident allegedly occurred on March 6, 2026, when the lawyer said he came across a viral video and photographs posted on Dikeh’s official Facebook page.
In the footage, the actress carried out what the lawyer described as a religious exorcism on the schoolgirl, during which the child was laid on bare ground and pressed against a stony surface.
The affidavit states, “On 6th March, 2026, I stumbled upon a viral footage and photos on the official Facebook page of the Respondent, Tonto Dikeh, a Nollywood actress showing the Respondent carrying out a vicious religious exorcism on a female school child wherein the child was laid on bare ground while being pressed against the stony surface despite the Respondent wearing artificial finger nails; harassing, and publicly shaming the child.”
“The actions of the Respondent did not just constitute degrading treatment of the school child but exposed her to contempt, public shame, and likely unspoken child trauma,” the affidavit stated.
Obasi also alleged that the publication of the images and video footage of the incident on social media violated the child’s right to privacy, as guaranteed under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution and provisions of the Child Rights Act 2003.
