New Minister of Information that Pledges not to ‘tell lies’ needs to address Frivolous suits First

Media is the essential grease and oil that set the sweet sail of democracy. The best practice of its practitioners lies in “upholding the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people” as entrenched in the section 22 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN).

 

But whenever this fourth estate of the realm in Nigeria launches itself to fully fulfill the will of the section of the constitution, it doesn’t usually have a safe passage as there are “frivolous lawsuits” intentionally made to SLAPP them off the justice wheel. This part, Muhammed Idris, the new Nigeria’s Minister of Information, need to attend to urgently.

 

What Is SLAPP?

Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation also known as SLAPP constitute a daunting threat to press freedom and democratic participation. There is the need for the judiciary and the state prosecutors to be sensitised on the malicious nature of SLAPP actions to be able to discern their underlying artificiality and impact on press freedom. When it becomes obvious that their clients are being subjected to SLAPP, lawyers must point it out and argue forcefully for judges to strike out or dismiss such cases, an article published the ICIR about SLAPP, noted.

 

Anatomy of a Frivolous lawsuits — SLAPP

 

European SLAPPs have certain identifying characteristics. They involve a power imbalance, as a powerful (and usually wealthier) person files a complaint against an individual they are seeking to silence. They claim to have a legal basis, and typically take the form a civil case (and on rare occasions, a criminal case) with exorbitant legal fees the defendant would struggle to pay. The disingenuous lawsuits, concerned not with finding the truth but rather suppressing it by silencing outspoken persons and individuals, result in a chilling effect, deterring the defendant and others from expressing their views due to the risk of a vexatious suit, and the financial and psychological toll it brings.

 

SLAPP in Nigeria

Illegal arrest, harassment and exorbitant legal fees to be paid by journalists are the order of SLAPP in Nigeria. For example, on March 21, 2022, a Federal High Court in Calabar acquitted and discharged Agba Jalingo, the publisher of Cross River Watch, after a marathon trial which lasted 30 months in what is a classic case of SLAPP.

 

Another journalist whose case underlines this trend is Oliver Fejiro, founder of the Secret Reporters online newspaper who has been embroiled in a legal battle for the past five years.

 

Arrested on March 16, 2017, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, over a series of articles alleging corruption at a local bank, Fejiro was arraigned before a Federal High Court in Lagos on April 28 on cyberstalking charge, and released on bail on May 11, 2017.

Another journalist, Luka Binniyat, was detained for 84 days before being granted bail by a Federal High Court in Kaduna on January 27, 2022.

 

Binniyat, a reporter for the US-based Epoch Times online newspaper, was arrested on November 4, 2021 after he wrote an article denouncing the Kaduna State government’s indifferent response to attacks by bandits on communities in southern Kaduna.

 

Binniyat told the MFWA that immediately after his release, the authorities revived a different case that has been dormant for the past two years.

 

The emblematic case of Jones Abiri, the editor of the Weekly Sources newspaper, encapsulates the Nigerian authorities’ brazen resolve to SLAPP journalists into submission.

 

In another case of pointless prosecution, the SSS (formerly DSS) arrested Kufre Carter, a journalist with XL 106.9 FM, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on April 27, 2020. This followed the leaking into the media, including social media, of the journalist’s critical comments about the state Health Commissioner’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

In most cases, SLAPP suits do not travel the full distance but are abandoned along the way or left to hang over the head of the defendants like the Sword of Damocles. They usually drag for months, even years, in an often deliberate scheme to distract the defendants from their work, drain them psychologically and financially, thus intimidating them into self-censorship. A further objective is to deter other journalists from daring to produce any punchy publications about the plaintiffs or the subject in question.

 

The deliberate delays, often through lack of cooperation by the complainants/plaintiffs, call into question the impartiality and independence of the judiciary, if not its efficiency.

 

Though not an exhaustive list, the cases cited here bear the classic hallmarks of SLAPP. They underline an endemic culture of hostility to critical journalism among powerful people in Nigeria. What is more depressing is the fact that all the above actions are criminal, rather than civil proceedings.

 

The situation is delicate. At the core of it are competing needs and rights. There is the need to hold journalists accountable for disinformation and libelous publications. There is also the right of the public to receive factual information. Both considerations are undermined when journalists fear to report on certain sensitive issues of public concern or fail to do due diligence before publishing their stories.

 

It is therefore imperative to find the right balance in protecting the reputation of individuals from wanton attacks, while safeguarding press freedom and the public’s right to information at the same time. It is in this regard that most jurisdictions have abolished criminal libel and tend to discourage adversarial legal actions in favour of mediated settlement of press-related litigations.

 

Former Minister of Information strengthened the power of SLAPP by adding “Hate Speech Law” to it. Facilitated by former president, Muhammadu Buhari, the law alongside others, saw notable Nigerian broadcasting corporations charged to pay a whooping sum of N3m and N3m respectively.

 

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