SERAP’s ₦101m Defamation Appeal Stalled Over Late Filing Of Brief
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has adjourned the hearing of two appeals by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, until 13 October after a late-filed brief disrupted proceedings on Friday.
The appeals challenge a High Court judgment ordering SERAP and Oluwadare to pay ₦101 million in damages and costs to two Department of State Services (DSS) officials over publications the court found defamatory.
The appellate court had begun hearing SERAP’s appeal, marked CA/ABJ/CV/1114/2026, when the second appeal, filed by Oluwadare and marked CA/ABJ/CV/1105/2026, was called.
Oluwadare’s lawyer, Hannah Ayanwale, told the three-member panel, presided over by Justice Danlami Senchi, that her client’s appeal was not ready for hearing because his brief had only been filed on Thursday and served on the respondents on Friday morning.
The disclosure angered the justices, who expressed displeasure that the lawyer had not informed the court earlier that the appeal was not ripe for hearing.
The court subsequently set aside the proceedings already conducted in SERAP’s appeal, ruling that both matters, having arisen from the same judgment, should be heard together.
It adjourned the appeals until 13 October, directing the respondents to file their briefs by 12 October and Oluwadare to file a reply brief before the next hearing.
How the ₦101m judgment arose
The appeals stem from a 5 May judgment by Justice Halilu Yusuf of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in a suit filed by two DSS officials, Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele.
The officials accused SERAP and Oluwadare of publishing false claims on the organisation’s website and social media platforms that DSS personnel invaded its Abuja office on 9 September 2024 and subjected its staff to harassment.
Justice Yusuf held that the claimants had presented sufficient evidence to establish defamation and rejected the defendants’ defence of justification, ruling that they had failed to prove the accuracy of the publications.
The judge noted that terms such as “invasion”, “forceful entry” and “harassment” had been used inaccurately.
According to the judgment, the defendants admitted during the trial that the DSS officials neither forced their way into SERAP’s premises nor brandished weapons.
“Having been unable to establish invasion and harassment, the defence of justification fails,” the judge said, adding that the publications had affected the claimants mentally and psychologically.
Justice Yusuf held that the publications damaged the officials’ professional reputations and standing in society.
He also dismissed the defendants’ objection to the competence of the suit, affirming that the claimants had the legal standing to bring the action.
The court further ruled that the officials did not have to be expressly named in the publications for defamation to be established.
It awarded ₦100 million in damages and ₦1 million in litigation costs against SERAP and Oluwadare, ordered them to publish a public apology on SERAP’s website and X account, in two national newspapers and on two television stations, and directed that the judgment sum attract 10 per cent annual interest until payment.
The judge also urged SERAP and its officials to exercise greater care and due diligence before publishing information, stressing that the right to communicate publicly must be exercised with regard for the rights of others.
The Court of Appeal is expected to hear both appeals together on 13 October.
Join Our WhatsApp Community
