A Lesbian group has dragged Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) over failure of the organisation to acknowledge and register the group.
Pamela Adie, an activist of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer (LGBTQ) movement sued CAC in 2018 for refusing to register Lesbian Equality and Empowerment Initiative, a non-profit organisation. She lost the case.
Pamela Adie and her lesbian partner
However, she remains unfazed as she files an appeal against the commission arguing that the right to freedom of association should be enjoyed by every Nigerian regardless of their sexual status.
This has formed the basis of her argument to ensure the lesbian group gets registered in Nigeria.
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 Sex 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.
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.
