Court orders online news to pay N105m damages for libel publication in Bauchi

Bauchi State High Court number seven, presided over by Justice Abdulkadir Lamido Kabir, has awarded the sum of N105 million against the Wikki Media and Publications Limited for publishing a libellous news story against MinXin Mineral Separation, Ali Arzuka, and Ibrahim Usman Adam.

Delivering judgment, Justice Lamido awarded the sum of N 100 million in general damages to the claimant and another N5 million as cost of action, totalling N105 million.

Justice Lamido declared that the online Publication and inserting a picture of Dogo Hide by Wikki Times Media and Publication Limited, known on social media as Will Times, is libellous and defamatory to the character of the plaintiffs.

He gave an order compelling Wikki Times to publish a written public apology and retraction to Plaintiffs, which will be published in Wikki Times online platform, three nationally circulating newspapers in Nigeria, one of which shall be the Daily Trust newspaper and two internationally circulating magazines.

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Justice Lamido ordered Wikki Times to pull down and erase from the World Wide Web and online media platforms stories so published and pictures inserted relating to the plaintiffs published between 16th September,2023 He further restrained the Wikkii Times from making such libellous publication against the claimant.

The plaintiffs had earlier, through the counsel Barrister Emmanuel Danjuma, instituted an action against Wikki Times, Haruna Bale and Yakubu Mohammed seeking N10 billion as aggravated and general damages and another ₦10 Million for the cost of the action.

The Plaintiffs said that on the 16th day of September 2023, the Defendants published online a malicious article with this caption: “INVESTIGATION: Inside Secret Details of How Chines allied Miners Bribed Dogo Gide Terror Group to Access Mining Sites in Niger State” and also inserted the picture of Dogo Gide, a Terrorist Kingpin whereby he name of 1st 3rd Plaintiffs were conspicuously written under the picture.

Counsel to the plaintiffs alleged that” The picture is a picture taken by the two defendants with Niger State Governor, when they visited him and alleged that the defendants removed the picture of the Executive Governor of Niger State, and inserted the picture of Dogo Gide. Terrorist kingpin”

The Plaintiffs told the court that the publication was done online and it carries far-reaching implications in the sense that it is universally accessible through the use of the internet, which implies a desire to make the material so published available globally.

They alleged that the online libel and defamatory publication so published by the Defendants was done with the intention to malign and tarnish the reputation of the Plaintiffs was read, watched and downloaded by the third party.

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The plaintiffs told the court that the Defendants so published a libellous publication that” On many occasions, the terrorist seized the mined stone and stalled operations until they were bribed with millions of Naira and motorcycles”

They alleged that the Defendants published in the same publication as was referred to in the le “MINERS DIALOGUED WITH DOGO GIDE’S MOTHER” paragraph 4, that Ibrahim Usman Adam, one of the leading actors involved in coordinating illegal mining in the axis, confessed that they discussed with the terror kingpin’s mother before operations would begin at the sites.

Plaintiffs said that the Defendants further published in me an article under the same subtitle above in paragraph 7 that Bandits were paid N3 Million every week,” one of the said. This is no more than hearsay.

The Plaintiffs state that they were granted two mining leases with No. 45933 ML and 4314ML in Shiroro LGA of Niger State for the period of 25 years, respectively.

They said that the Plaintiffs aver that the libellous statement so published by the defendants is false,e, and it exposed the Plaintiffs to hatred, ridicule and people had shunned and avoided them.

In their Statement of Defence, ed by their Counsel, one of the Defendants, Yakubu Mohammed, denied many of the allegations by the plaintiffs and explained. To the best of my knowledge and best on our standard procedure o operation, we always carry out a deep investigation before we publish any story on our platform. That was when this issue of investigation of mining activities in relation to the terrorists related activities going on unabated in some part of Niger State, Niger, came up, it was assigned to me, and my findings were very gruesome and quite revealing to say the least.”

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The Defendants deny paragraphs 8, 9 and 10 of the Plaintiffs’ Amended Statement of Claim, which said they took pictures with the Niger State Governor, and they carried the story without the knowledge of the plaintiffs to the extent that the said images were published on the Niger State Government’s official news pages. And the Plaintiffs are put to the strictest proof of the fact therein.

Further stated that contrary to the Plaintiffs’ assertions, the investigation aims to find a way of drawing the attention of state actors to the suffering of the communities concerned or affected by insecurity in Niger State and the Defendants deny paragraphs 14 of the Plaintiffs’ Amended Statement of Claim, to the extent that the quoted publication did not refer to any of the Plaintiffs, which is very true. And the Plaintiffs are put to the strictest proof of the facts therein.

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