The Imo State High Court has dismissed a fundamental rights suit in which Chika B. Chukwuemeka sought $25 million in damages from Meta Platforms Inc. over alleged breaches of her privacy and data protection rights.
Justice L. C. Alinnor of the Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Judicial Division dismissed the action in a judgment delivered on July 21, 2026, holding that the applicant failed to establish that Meta had violated her constitutional right to privacy or unlawfully processed her personal data.
Chukwuemeka had accused the social media company of collecting, processing, profiling and using her personal information for behavioural advertising without her consent.
She argued that the alleged activities violated Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, as well as provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.
Among the reliefs sought by the applicant were declarations that Meta’s alleged processing of her personal data was unlawful and orders stopping the company from continuing with the alleged processing.
She also asked the court to direct Meta to bring its data-processing operations in Nigeria into compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act and to file an affidavit confirming compliance.
In addition, Chukwuemeka sought the naira equivalent of $10 million as general damages and another $15 million as exemplary damages.
She further sought post-judgment interest on any monetary award at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria rate until the judgment debt was fully paid.
However, the court found that a significant part of the applicant’s case was predicated on Final Orders previously issued against Meta by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
Those regulatory orders had subsequently been challenged before the Federal High Court in Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/355/2025, Meta Platforms, Inc. v. Nigeria Data Protection Commission.
The proceedings before the Federal High Court eventually ended in a consent judgment by which the NDPC’s Final Orders were set aside.
In its decision, the Imo State High Court accepted the arguments advanced on Meta’s behalf by its counsel, Paul Mgbeoma, that the setting aside of the NDPC orders meant they could no longer provide a legal basis for Chukwuemeka’s claims.
The court held that the orders, having been set aside, were no longer capable of sustaining the applicant’s case.
The judge also considered whether the claims could succeed independently of the NDPC’s earlier regulatory action.
On that issue, the court found that the applicant had not placed sufficient evidence before it to demonstrate how Meta had specifically breached her constitutional privacy rights.
The court held that the allegations remaining before it were largely unsupported assertions and lacked the factual detail and evidence required to establish the alleged violations.
Consequently, the court rejected the applicant’s case and dismissed the suit for want of merit.
In reaching its conclusion, the court described the case, following the collapse of the regulatory basis upon which it had substantially relied, as having been “built on nothing.”
