Court of Appeal pushes back SERAP's defamation case against SSS

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday moved the date for two appeals by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP). They are challenging a N100 million defamation judgement in favor of the State Security Service (SSS).

SERAP and its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, filed the appeals separately.

The appeals come after a judgement on 5 May by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja. The court found SERAP liable for defamation over publications accusing two SSS officials of invading its Abuja office in September 2024. The officials are Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele.

A three-member panel led by Judge Danlami Senchi postponed both appeals on Friday after a disagreement regarding Mr Oluwadare's second appeal. The court said that appeal was not ready for hearing.

The court also changed its previous decision to reserve judgement in SERAP’s appeal. It set 13 October as the new date for further proceedings.

Disagreement over second appeal

When Mr Oluwadare’s appeal was called, his lawyer, Hannah Ayanwale, told the court that the appeal was not ready for hearing. She explained that the appellant's brief was only filed the day before. The lawyer also mentioned that a document was accidentally left out of the additional record of appeal, which was also filed the day before.

The SSS officials’ lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, confirmed that he received the appellant’s brief. He described the appeal as an abuse of court process. He questioned why there were two appeals from one judgement given by the trial court.

He said his clients initially thought Mr Oluwadare had abandoned the appeal by not filing the necessary papers on time.

He also apologized for not filing an earlier application against the appeal and asked the court for time to submit the respondents’ briefs.

Paul Ngbeoma, who is the lawyer for the third respondent in the second appeal, also apologized to the court. He stated that his client would not file any papers but would take part in the hearing.

The panel criticized the lawyers for taking too long to inform the court that the appeal was not ready for hearing. It then told the SSS officials' lawyers to submit their clients’ respondents’ brief by Monday, 12 October. The appellant must file a reply to the respondents’ brief by the morning of the following day, Tuesday.

The panel explained that it had previously set a date for judgement on SERAP’s appeal because the lawyers did not inform it that both appeals were from the same judgement. Judge Senchi then set 13 October for the two appeals.

Background

SERAP’s publication from 9 September 2024 claimed that SSS officials entered its Abuja office unlawfully. This happened after SERAP called on President Bola Tinubu to investigate corruption claims about the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and to reverse petrol price increases.

The publication described the officials as "a tall, large, dark-skinned woman" and "a slim, dark-skinned man" but did not name them.

The SSS later filed a lawsuit with two of its operatives, claiming that SERAP's publications defamed them. They asked for N5 billion in damages, saying the allegations harmed their reputations.

SERAP, on the other hand, insisted in its defense that SSS operatives had indeed entered its Abuja office.

Delivering judgement on 5 May, Judge Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court found SERAP liable for defamation and awarded N100 million in damages against the organization.

Not happy with the judgement, SERAP appealed. They argued that the claimants did not prove that the publications specifically referred to them. The reports did not mention their names, ranks, designations, or offices, or include their photographs.

The organization also argued that no independent witness testified that they read the publications and understood them to refer to the claimants.

It challenged the trial judge’s reliance on his own observation of the claimants’ physical appearances to conclude that the descriptions identified them.

SERAP asked the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgement and the subsequent orders.

SERAP is a Nigerian civil society group that uses legal action, research, and advocacy to promote human rights, transparency, and accountability in governance.