Court dismisses defamation suit against Sowore, SaharaReporters, fines complainant N500,000

The Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has dismissed a defamation suit filed by public relations consultant Olalekan Fatodu and his firm, Leeman Communications Limited, against activist Omoyele Sowore and his media platform, Sahara Reporters Media Inc.

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Delivering his ruling on Tuesday, the judge, Oyindamola Ogala, held that the claimants failed to establish that the allegedly defamatory publication was communicated to a third party—a key requirement under Nigerian defamation law.

Mr Oyindamola ordered the award of N500,000 in costs against Mr Fatodu and his company.

“The court awarded N500,000 against Lekan Fatodu,” said Stanley Imhanruor, Principal Partner at PRIMEVIEW Legal, who handled the case. “This is the second time the court has awarded costs against him over the same matter.”

SaharaReporters reported that Mr Imhanruor, who filed the initial response to the suit while still at Falana & Falana’s Chambers, recalled that the court had previously awarded N200,000 against Mr Fatodu for wrongfully joining the Sahara Reporters Media Foundation in the suit.

“That was years ago when they joined Sahara Foundation as a party to the suit. So when the name was eventually struck out from the case, the court awarded costs against Fatodu as the claimant who initially joined the Sahara Foundation in the suit.”

“The N200,000 damages were awarded against them over six years ago; that time when they joined the SaharaReporters Foundation in the suit.

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“The court ruled that the Foundation was improperly joined, and this was what led to the award of the damages against the claimant at that time,’’ he said.

**The Sports boss in Lagos Lekan Fatodu is sounding confident**

How it started

The legal battle stemmed from a January 2017 publication by SaharaReporters that linked Mr Fatodu to controversial contracts allegedly facilitated through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) under Sambo Dasuki, a retired Army colonel.

The media outlet reported that Mr Fatodu acted as a front for former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode in the award of phony contracts used to launder public funds.

The publication relied in part on publicly available documents from a 2016 investigation by Nigeria’s federal government into misappropriated arms procurement funds, popularly known as the Dasukigate scandal. The ONSA, in a public notice published in The Nation newspaper on 8 January 2016, listed companies that had received payments without executing contracts, including firms connected to Mr Fatodu.

This was followed by a 24 March 2016 release by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, which again named entities that had allegedly benefited from diverted public funds meant for arms procurement.

Defence anchored in public interest journalism

During trial proceedings, the defence led by Mr Imhanruor argued that SaharaReporters had acted in the public interest by reporting on government investigations into corruption.

The defence submitted multiple documents—including the aforementioned government lists and public notices—showing that Mr Fatodu’s firm had been mentioned to ONSA contract scandals.

“It is a matter of fact that Col. Dasuki diverted public funds meant for the purchase of arms in the fight against insurgency,” the defence stated, “and that the 2nd claimant, where the 1st claimant is a director, was one of the companies that received payments for phony contracts.”

They maintained that SaharaReporters had a constitutional and moral obligation to inform the public, adding that “the public is entitled to receive the information contained in the said publications for the advancement of transparency and accountability.”

2017 arrest and social media clash

Mr Fatodu’s legal action came on the heels of a dramatic confrontation in January 2017 when he physically attacked Mr Sowore on Isaac John Street in Ikeja. The incident, which Mr Fatodu posted about on his Twitter handle (now X), led to Mr Sowore’s arrest by the Lagos Police Command.

“Breaking! I just got Sowore Omoyele of SaharaReporters arrested for criminal defamation, blackmail and threat to my life and career,” Fatodu wrote on his X handle on 11 January 2017.

Following the arrest, Mr Sowore released a Facebook video from police custody alleging that the police were acting in concert with Mr Fatodu.

“I was physically attacked by this guy and when we got to the police station, they changed the story,” Mr Sowore told TheCable. “The commissioner of police pulled out a petition by Fatodu and ordered that I be transferred to Panti [CID]. It was clearly prearranged.”

Mr Sowore denied claims that he demanded a bribe from Mr Fatodu, stating that if any such demand had been made, evidence would have been released long ago.

He maintained that the real motive behind the suit and the arrest was to suppress SaharaReporters’ investigative reporting.

READ ALSO: #EndBadGovernance: Thugs disrupt Sowore-led protest in Ondo

Further attempts to silence Sowore

In March 2017, Mr Fatodu escalated the feud by submitting a petition to then-Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos, asking for Mr Sowore to be evicted from his office in Ikeja.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the petition said Mr Sowore had allegedly been using the house at 13A Isaac John Street, Ikeja GRA, to coordinate illegal activities.

“We reckon Your Excellency is aware that part of the consequences of breeding criminality within that choice neighbourhood are a relentless social disturbance, agitation, and protests, which we strongly believe would adversely impact the peace and tranquillity that businesses and residents within the area have been enjoying all this while.

“We humbly urge Your Excellency to swiftly apply your good offices to investigate this complaint with a view to determining culpability and to bringing the full force of the law to bear upon the criminal elements involved in this circumstance,” Mr Fatodu said.

But Mr Ambode’s office denied receiving such a petition.“We are not aware of any petition from any Lekan Fatodu,” Habib Haruna, a spokesperson for the governor, told PREMIUM TIMES.

This newspaper, however, learnt that when Mr Fatodu tried to submit the petition to Mr. Ambode, he was ignored, and then advised to route his complaints to the police.