“Defamation should be solely a civil matter in Nigeria as it is in England and Wales. It cannot be used here to silent political dissent. It has no place in democracy. Senator Akpabio and Yahaya Bello should go to court on their own”.
BY SADIQ IBRAHIM DASIN
One of the only eight female senators in the Nigerian senate today, a woman, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is challenging her suspension from the Senate. Justice Binta Nyako has set the 27th of June 2025 to give a final judgment in the case.
I believe that most of us know that this is a straight forward case that has precedents in which courts have ruled same way that even lay men know that Senator Akpabio will lose. For instance, in 2017, the Federal High Court in Abuja declared the suspension of Senator Ali Ndume “illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional”. In 2018, the same court declared the suspension of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, constitutionally defective.
Why this senate, despite these two cases and several others including that of the Court of Appeal that described as “illegal”, the suspension of a female member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, went ahead and suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, beats my imagination.
Again, in spite of all these, just before Justice Binta descend on this senate, Senator Akpabio and former governor Yahaya Bello reminded me of what I was taught in the law class. I have learnt through my law teachers and at young age, that democracies die at the hands of military generals with guns, who overthrow elected governments, subvert the will of the people and perpetuate themselves in power. This was what President Bola Tinubu fought against. But never in my mind, have I ever imagined that elected leaders—presidents and law makers, would subvert the very process that brought them to power.
This is what is happening here today. Because they knew that Justice Binta Nyako has set the 27th of June, 2025 to give a final judgment in the case of suspension of Senator Natasha, which she will definitely win, the federal government quickly filed a three-count criminal charge against Senator Natasha for allegedly defaming Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.
It was said in the criminal charge filed in the Federal High Court, Abuja, against Senator Natasha some days ago, that she had publicly alleged that Senator Akpabio was involved in organ harvesting and that he and Yahaya Bello had plotted to assassinate her in Kogi State.
For God’s sake what is this? Why are we like this? Why should the federal government of Nigeria file a criminal case against Senator Natasha on allegation of defamation of the character of Senator Akpabio and Yahaya Bello? Are we not trivializing governance?
What has the federal government of Nigeria got to do with this statement allegedly made by Senator Natasha against Senator Akpabio and Yahaya Bello? Are Senator Akpabio and Yahaya Bello small children that are not old enough to go court themselves and defend their good character, if they have any?
Okay, assuming but not conceding that Senator Akpabio being number three man as senate president, is part of this government and that government can go to court in defence of his character, which I doubt, what of Yahaya Bello? Is he also part of the government while he is on N500,000,0000 bail?
I can’t believe that the federal government led by our own President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former senator, a pro-democracy activist who fled the country so as to live long enough to fight for us another day, would allow this to be visited on an ordinary woman under his watch.
Unfortunately, in the charge against Senator Natasha, her accusers (Senator Akpabio and ex-Gov. Yahaya Bello) would stand as witnesses for the prosecution. ‘I laugh plenty’ as one of my cousins usually say. Akpabio and Yahaya Bello as witnesses? Witnesses to the federal government? Haba!
When I read this in the press, I prayed that President Tinubu would steer clear of the case and say so publicly. As it may, if he allows it to go on, tarnish his good image in the international community.
I am not unaware that S. 174 of the constitution has empowered the Attorney General Federation to institute criminal proceedings in the name of the Federal Government. But, was it the federal government of Nigeria that was allegedly defamed by Senator Natasha? When have Senator Akpabio and Yahaya Bello become the federal government of Nigeria for the Attorney General of the Federation to file a criminal defamation case against a tortfeasor when both Akpabio and Yahya can do so themselves?
Is the Attorney General of Federation a frivolous person? He is not. Is his revered office that redundant? No. It is not.
I am also not unaware that in Nigeria, regretably, liability in defamation may be civil or criminal. I am also not unaware that it is S. 391 of the Penal Code that created the offense of criminal defamation and that S. 392 of the Code imposes penalties punishable for up to one year or two years imprisonment for the offense. However, I am also aware that we still have some USELESS COLONIAL LAWS in our statute books that should have long been discarded. S. 391 and 392 are, to me, part of those useless laws that not only outlived their usefulness but are no longer required nor desirable.
I remember when WANDERING was an offense in Nigeria. A colonial hangover law that the colonial masters used to prevent black people from going into the GRAs where whites exclusively live, but which unfortunately, our leaders even after independence (as new occupants of the GRAs in various states capitals including my elder brother Hamma Ibada), continued to retain in our statute books.
It was not until 1989 that WANDERING ceased to be an offense in Nigeria having been abolished by the Minor Offences (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989. Since then, no policeman is empowered to detain anybody for WANDERING. It is no longer an offense in Nigeria.
Like ‘Criminal Defamation’ now being leveraged on by Senator Akpabio, ‘Criminal Libel’ existed in the United Kingdom to criminalize criticism of the Monarch and used to silence political dissent. The law fell out of use in the 20th century and finally abolished in the UK in 2009 by The Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
Like the former offense of WANDERING, ‘Criminal Defamation’ that Akpabio wants to leverage on in his fight with Natasha, it is a useless colonial law imposed on us by the British to prevent black nationalists or freedom fighters from criticizing the British colonial administration. Now Senator Akpabio has replaced the colonial masters. He is a monarch. Like some of us who replaced the British colonialists in the GRA, as a monarch, Akpabio asks that government should prosecute Senator Natasha for criticizing him.
I have tremendous respect for Mr. Lateef Fagbemi. I like his legal practice. I am sure he will drop this case against Natasha. It is based on a useless law.
Let me also use this opportunity to call on our judiciary to use this opportunity to declare S. 391 of the Penal Code and its comparable provision in the Criminal codes in all states of the federation unconstitutional.
Defamation should be solely a civil matter in Nigeria as it is in England and Wales. It cannot be used here to silent political dissent. It has no place in democracy. Senator Akpabio and Yahaya Bello should go to court on their own. President Tinubu should not let these two to further dent his international image. In saner climes, people who have character go to court to defend it when they are defamed. They do not use government.
… Sadiq Ibrahim Dasin, a lawyer is based in Kaduna
