Defamation: Banire Seeks Redress from FIJ, Threatens N1bn Libel Suit

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Convener of social advocacy group, United Action for Change (UAC), Dr. Muiz Banire, has threatened to drag Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) to court for N1 billion compensation if the organisation fails to meet his demands over damages done his 35 years legal and academic record.

This was disclosed in a letter titled: ‘Defamatory Statements Against Dr. Muiz Banire, SAN, OON Pre-action Protocol Written Memorandum’ dated 7th May 2024 and addressed to FIJ by his lawyer, Kunle Adegoke, SAN.

However, the police yesterday, released the detained journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Daniel Ojukwu, who was allegedly abducted by men of the Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector General of Police.
Ojukwu regained his freedom after 10 days in police captivity.
FIJ disclosed this yesterday on its website.
Ojukwu was said to have gone missing on Wednesday, May 1, his numbers were switched off and his whereabouts unknown to colleagues, family and friends.
The letter whose copy was made available to journalists, read: “Our client Informed us, and we verily believe him, that: his attention was drawn to your organisation’s publication of 6th May 2024 with the caption: Confirmed: Muiz Banire wrote the petition that triggered FIJ Reporter’s Abduction, published on your organisation’s website.

“In the said publication, your organisation wrote that our client is responsible for the abduction of one Daniel Ojukwu, a member of staff of your organisation.”

The letter further said, “your publication deliberately conveyed the malicious

impression that our client engineered the kidnap of the aforementioned Daniel Ojukwu, thereby, suggesting that our client engages in criminal conduct; in this vein, your publication failed to mention that our client acted in line with his professional obligation in the representation of his client and that his office, M. A. Banire & Associates, authored the petition to the Inspector-General of Police on behalf of their client to report a case of cyberbullying; your publication is, without a doubt, designed to damage the reputation of our client, a purpose it is currently serving.

“Due to the popularity and effectiveness of your organisation’s online distribution network, millions of people have received and read your organisation’s defamatory publication; your organisation to note that your publication has dragged our client’s carefully nurtured good name in the mud and exposed our client to underserved public opprobrium; many that have read your publications, particularly his professional colleagues and associates, have expressed shock as to why our client would engage in the criminal behaviour your organisation attributed to him.

“Many also queried our client on the sins or transgressions of the said Daniel Ojukwu against the person of our client as to warrant our client resorting to the crime of engineering his abduction; to many of them, our client’s explanation that he had no personal relationship with the said Daniel Ojukwu and did not know him from Adam but only acted in his professional capacity as counsel to his client in the submission of a petition to the police on his client’s behalf fell on deaf ears; and your organisation has, through its false and heinous allegations, inflicted grievous damage on our client’s reputation.

“It is beyond cavil that the referenced publication casts a direct aspersion on the person of our client. To right-thinking members of society, you have presented

our client as a criminal who engages in abduction of people. Furthermore, your organisation’s publication has caused many to believe that our client, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a member of the Body of Benchers and a holder of a doctorate degree in Law, has no qualms in committing the heinous crime your organisation’s publications attributed to him.

“The gross implication of your organisation’s publication is that it has informed the world that our client is unfit to be a legal practitioner or an Officer of the Order of the Niger and is only fit for the four walls of a prison.”

The legal luminary therefore gave the organisation 14 days to retract and make amends, without which, he would be left with no other option than to drag FIJ before the court.

“It is in view of the foregoing that we, on behalf of our client, demand the following:

not later than 14 (fourteen) days from the delivery of this written memorandum to your organisation, your organisation immediately retracts the said publication and tenders an unreserved apology through all your organisation’s platforms and 5 (five) national daily newspapers circulating all over the federation, which must include the Punch Newspaper and ThisDay Newspaper;

“Not later than 14 (fourteen) days from the delivery of this letter on your organisation, pay the sum of N500,000,000.00 (Five Hundred Million Naira) as compensation for the reputation of our client that your organisation has maligned maliciously and/or recklessly.”