Popular Nollywood actress and self-acclaimed evangelist, Tonto Dikeh, has been dragged before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja over an alleged religious “deliverance” carried out on a female schoolgirl, with the plaintiff demanding ₦200 million in damages.
The suit was filed by human rights lawyer, Ikechukwu Obasi, under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009. Obasi is representing a minor who is a Junior Secondary School 1 student at Junior Secondary School, Durumi II, in Abuja, and originally from Rivers State.
According to court documents, the legal action stems from an incident that allegedly occurred on March 6, 2026, after a video and photographs were said to have appeared on Dikeh’s official Facebook page. The footage reportedly showed the actress conducting what the lawyer described as a religious exorcism on the young girl.
In the video, the child was allegedly laid on bare ground and pressed against a stony surface during the ritual. Obasi argued that the act amounted to degrading treatment and subjected the girl to public humiliation and possible psychological trauma.
In an affidavit supporting the suit, the lawyer stated that the manner in which the ritual was conducted, along with the publication of the footage on social media, violated the child’s rights to dignity and privacy. He further claimed that portraying the minor as being possessed and attempting to cast out alleged demons could expose her to stigma, ridicule, and discrimination among her peers.
Obasi also maintained that sharing the images and video online without the consent of the child or her guardians breached the constitutional right to privacy as provided under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution and the Child Rights Act of 2003.
The suit is asking the court to declare that the alleged deliverance ritual constitutes a violation of the child’s fundamental rights to dignity under Section 34 of the Constitution, as well as under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Child Rights Act.
In addition to the ₦200 million compensation, the plaintiff is seeking a court order compelling Dikeh to remove the video and photographs from all her social media platforms and publish an unreserved apology to the child and Nigerian children in three national newspapers.
The lawyer also requested a perpetual injunction restraining the actress from carrying out similar religious rites or exorcisms on any child in the future.
As of the time of filing this report, the court has yet to assign a hearing date for the case.
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