THE Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Tuesday ordered the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to pay N100 million in damages to two officials of the Department of State Services over what the court described as a defamatory publication on X.
News Point Nigeria reports that delivering judgment in suit number FCT/HC/CV/4547/24, Justice Yusuf Halilu held that the claimants, DSS officials Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele, successfully established that SERAP’s publication on its official X handle was defamatory.
SERAP had, in a series of posts published on September 9, 2024, alleged that operatives of the State Security Service unlawfully occupied its Abuja office and demanded to see its directors.
The organisation had written: “Officers from Nigeria’s State Security Service are presently unlawfully occupying SERAP’s office in Abuja, asking to see our directors.
“President Tinubu must immediately direct the SSS to end the harassment, intimidation, and attack on the rights of Nigerians.”
The DSS officials subsequently sued SERAP and its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, as first and second defendants respectively.
The claimants sought N5 billion in damages, N50 million as legal costs, a public apology to be published on SERAP’s website and in The PUNCH and Vanguard Newspapers, and aired on Channels Television and Arise Television, alongside 10 per cent annual interest on the judgment sum until liquidation.
They alleged that SERAP falsely accused DSS operatives of invading its Abuja office in September 2024, an allegation they said damaged both their reputations and that of the agency.
In his judgment, Justice Halilu described SERAP as “a prominent reputable non governmental Organisation who pushes for transparency, accountability, and protection of economic and social rights,” but stressed that the group must also recognise the rights of others.
The judge stated that while SERAP advocates against corruption, poverty and inequality and seeks to ensure that public resources benefit citizens, it must exercise caution before making public allegations.
“It is most necessary for care and due diligence to be taken by SERAP before tweeting or releasing any particular information with respect to the action of an agency of government for public consumption,” the judge said.
“In the exercise of their right, SERAP must equally beware of other people’s rights. The right to be able to tweet and then put information out there must correspondingly take into account the fact that other agencies, i.e. even government, have a right to be given a fair hearing as it relates to any such information.”
The court further held that the publication, which went viral, had clearly affected the claimants mentally and psychologically.
Justice Halilu noted that the DSS personnel were suspended pending investigation following the publication.
He added that the defendants failed to retract the publication despite having ample opportunity to do so.
“Claimants clearly are entitled to be assuaged in damages from the antecedents of what had played out, having established that the publication by the defendant is unjustifiably libellous,” he held.
“The law will not stand still whilst the rest of the world goes on, and that will be bad for good. The law is an equal disperser of justice, and leaves none without a remedy for his right. It is a basic and elementary principle of common law that wherever there is a wrong, legal or injurious, that is, there ought to be a remedy to redress the wrong.”
Although the claimants demanded N5 billion, the court awarded N100 million in damages.
“It is my assessment that N100 million is a paltry sum that this court hereby awards against the defendants in favour of the claimants as damages,” Justice Halilu ruled.
The court also ordered SERAP and Oluwadare to issue public apologies through SERAP’s website and X handle, as well as through The PUNCH, Vanguard Newspapers, Arise Television and Channels Television.
In addition, the court awarded 10 per cent annual interest on the judgment sum from the date of judgment until full liquidation, alongside N1 million as cost of action.
Justice Halilu stressed during the ruling that fundamental rights are not absolute.
“In the exercise of a right, we must be very careful because these rights are not open-ended. Your right ends where another person’s own begins,” he said.
The judge held that SERAP’s defence of justification failed because the alleged invasion, harassment and intimidation by DSS officers were not established with evidence before the court.
He also ruled that the claimants successfully proved the essential ingredients of libel, including publication, reference to the claimants, defamatory meaning and lack of justification.
The court dismissed preliminary objections raised by the defendants challenging the competence of the suit, admissibility of evidence and service of originating processes, describing them as lacking merit.
Justice Halilu further reaffirmed that libel is actionable per se and does not require proof of specific damage once publication has been established.
According to the court, the publication injured the claimants’ reputations, exposed them to public ridicule and led to their suspension, thereby justifying compensation.
The court subsequently entered judgment in favour of the claimants and granted the reliefs in part.