By Sabiu Abdullahi
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Maitama has directed the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to pay N100 million in damages to two officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) over a defamatory post on X.
Justice Yusuf Halilu delivered the ruling on Tuesday in a case marked FCT/HC/CV/4547/24. He held that the claimants, Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele, proved that SERAP published defamatory content about them on its official X account.
The dispute stems from a September 2024 post in which SERAP alleged that DSS operatives were “unlawfully occupying” its Abuja office and requested to see its directors. The claim surfaced less than a day after the organisation asked President Bola Tinubu to instruct the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to reverse an increase in petrol prices.
SERAP also called on the president to direct the DSS to end the “harassment, intimidation, and attack” on Nigerians’ rights.
The DSS confirmed that its personnel visited the organisation’s office but explained that the visit formed part of a routine investigation. It rejected the allegations and described them as “malicious”, while affirming its professionalism.
In a suit filed on October 17, 2024, the DSS argued that SERAP’s claims harmed its image and that of the two officials. The claimants maintained that the publication portrayed them as acting unlawfully and damaged their standing as security operatives. They sought N5.5 billion in compensation and demanded a public apology across multiple platforms.
In his judgment, Halilu stressed that SERAP, “a prominent reputable non governmental Organisation who pushes for Transparency, accountability, and protection of economic and social rights should also take cognisance of other peoples rights”.
He noted that the organisation must exercise caution in its public statements.
“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 agency of government for public consumption,” Halilu held.
“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 fair hearing as it relates to any such information.
“It is not in doubt that the said publication, which has gone viral, clearly affected the claimants mentally and psychologically.”
The court also found that the officers were suspended during the period of investigation.
“…The defendants who had all the time to have retracted the said write-up failed to do so,” the judge held.
“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 labellous.
“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.
“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.”
The court further ordered SERAP to issue a public apology through its website, X account, two national newspapers, and two television stations for the publication.
Justice Halilu also awarded a 10 percent annual interest on the judgment sum until full payment, along with N1 million as the cost of the suit.