Ruling in a lawsuit initiated by the Incorporated Trustees of Lawyers Alert Initiative for Protecting the Rights of Children, Women and the Indigent, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), to preserve the rights of prostitutes in Abuja to do their trade unhindered, Abuja Federal High Court’s Justice James Kolawole Omotosho on Wednesday said that prostitutes are vagabonds and could be arrested for committing the crimes prohibited by the law.

The NGO had filed the case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/642/2024, with seven reliefs to challenge the powers of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board to arrest and prosecute female sex workers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while addressing them with discriminatory language.

The NGO sued the board, the minister of the FCT, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the attorney general of the federation (AGF) as the first to fourth respondents in the case.

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Following written and oral submissions by the legal representatives of all the parties, the court delivered its judgment on Wednesday. According to the judge, the operative Penal Code Act in the FCT recognised prostitutes and any other person engaged in immoral acts as vagabonds, adding that sex work remained illegal throughout Nigeria.

“The position taken by the applicant on this issue is without doubt reprehensible and ridiculous,” the judge said, according to the certified true copy of the judgment obtained by FIJ.

“These women whom the applicant is suing for are, to use the proper word, prostitutes and their profession is prostitution. This court wonders if prostitution has become legal in the Federal Capital Territory. Under the Penal Code Act which is operational in the Federal Capital Territory, prostitutes are regarded as vagabonds under Section 405 (1) (d).”

Even though prostitution is legal in some Western countries, the judge ruled that such an “immoral act” has no place in the cultural norms of Nigeria and Africa and was “frowned upon as a deeply immoral act worthy of shame”.

The judge also chastised the NGO for instituting the case instead of preaching against indecency and protecting women’s rights.

“It is a known fact that prostitutes are some of the clearest examples of indecency in the society and they are champions of immorality through their immoral dressing exposing sensitive parts of their bodies, their use of vulgar language as well as the chief culprits in spreading sexual diseases. Allowing prostitutes to have free rein on the streets of Abuja will in no time destroy the moral fibre of the city and turn it to a hotbed of immorality. This court will not allow such to happen.

“There is absolutely no justification for prostitution in Nigeria in the context of our cultural norms and tradition, and in fact, prostitution is an anathema in Africa. The prostitutes which the applicant seeks to protect are vagabonds and the 1st respondent is well within its right to arrest and prosecute them as they constitute a nuisance in the Federal Capital Territory and are clearly committing an offence by parading themselves as women of easy virtue.

“I therefore hold that this application filed by the applicant has no basis and the rights claimed are unenforceable in light of the provisions of Section 45 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended and the Preamble to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

“I must also say here that this court is bemused by this instant application filed by the applicant which is apparently a civil society organisation set up to protect the rights of girls and women. This court wonders what kind of message the applicant is sending when it decided to bring an action to protect prostitutes.

“A reasonable person would have expected that the applicant would instead occupy itself with developing the girl child and protecting the sanctity of womanhood instead of promoting immorality and the spread of sexual diseases. It is indeed shameful that the applicant should file an action such as this.”

Women’s bodies are sacred and are not supposed to be put on sale in the name of prostitution, said Omotosho.

He concluded by dismissing the application for being unmeritorious.

“The bodies of women are not supposed to be articles, goods or chattels purchasable on the streets but the act of sex work or prostitution has changed the ideal and the natural narrative and the act of sex workers lining up on the streets is to bring womanhood to ridicule by advertising unseen article or chattel on the streets for potential uncultured customers to patronise,” the judge ruled.

“In conclusion, I hold that arresting either men or women suspected of engaging in sex work on the streets of Abuja does not breach any fundamental rights of the alleged sex workers and does not amount to harassment. As stated by the applicant, they are upon arrest arraigned before mobile Courts in the FCT. Being arraigned before the mobile Court is in compliance with Section 36 of the Constitution.

“In final analysis, the application of the Applicant is incompetent under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009. Even if it were competent, the reliefs sought are not grantable and thus it is hereby dismissed for lack of merit without hesitation.”

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Coincidentally, this judgment came a day after the House of Representatives adopted a motion seeking to direct the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to mandate all internet service providers to block access to websites offering pornographic content to Nigerians.

Dalhatu Tafoki, a representative from Katsina State, argued that prostitution is one of the immediate effects of online pornographic material.

“The immediate effects of doing pornographic content include promotion of adultery, prostitution, and other promiscuous behaviour, leading to addiction, escalation, and desensitisation, change of attitude towards oneself and family,” Tafoki said.