A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court was today urged to dismiss the N5billion defamation suit instituted against Socio-Economic and Accountability Project (SERAP) by two operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
At the adoption of his written addresses today, counsel to SERAP, Ms. Victoria Bassey from Tayo Oyetibo, SAN Chambers, urged the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety, stating that it lacked merit.
Judgment has been reserved for a date to be communicated to the parties.
The two DSS operatives, Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele, had sued SERAP for defamation following SERAP’s accusation that DSS operatives had visited its Abuja office in 2024.
According to Ms. Bassey, the suit was misconceived because the claimants did not establish that the words complained of referred to them personally.
The defendant’s address stated:
”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. They referred generically to ‘officers from Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) as an institution.
According to Bassey, the claimants have not established that the complaints of SERAP referred to them, adding that “there is no evidence whatsoever that a right-thinking individual reasonably understood the words complained of to refer to either claimant personally”.
In his adoption of address, counsel to the claimants, Mr. Oluwagbemileke Kehinde, urged the court to grant all the reliefs of the claimants, asking the court to discountenance the defendants’ defence, which he described as incompetent.
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