FCT High Court adjourns indefinitely for judgment in DSS operatives’ N5bn defamation suit against SERAP.
A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja has adjourned indefinitely for judgment in a N5 billion defamation suit filed against the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) by two operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Justice Yusuf Halilu fixed the matter for judgment after counsel to both parties adopted their final written addresses.
The claimants, Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele, instituted the suit following SERAP’s allegation that DSS operatives invaded its Abuja office in 2024. They are seeking N5 billion in damages over what they describe as defamatory publications.
At the proceedings, counsel to SERAP, Victoria Bassey, from Tayo Oyetibo, SAN Chambers, urged the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety, arguing that it was fundamentally defective.
According to Bassey, the action was misconceived because the claimants failed to establish that the words complained of were published of and concerning them personally.
In the defendant’s written address, counsel submitted:
“The law is firmly settled that in an action for defamation, the burden lies squarely on the claimant to prove, as a threshold and indispensable requirement that the words complained of were published of were published of and concerning him personally. This requirement is not cosmetic as it goes to the very root of the cause of action and failure to establish it is fatal.
“It is common ground that none of the publications complained of mentioned the claimants by name, rank, photograph or office. The referred generically to ‘officers from Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS)’ and complained of the conduct of the DSS as an institution”.
Bassey further argued that the claimants had not demonstrated that the statements referred specifically to them, adding that “there is no evidence whatsoever that a right-thinking individual reasonably understood the words complained of to refer to either claimants personally”.
In his own adoption of address, counsel to the claimants, Oluwagbemileke Kehinde, urged the court to grant all the reliefs sought, asking the court to discountenance the defence put forward by SERAP, which he described as incompetent.
Justice Halilu subsequently adjourned the matter indefinitely for judgment.
