Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered Nollywood actress, Halima Abubakar, to pay N10m as damages to the Senior Pastor and General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries International, Apostle Johnson Suleman, for publishing derogatory comments against him.
The court also restrained her from further publishing defamatory statements against the cleric.
According to the Certified True Copy of the judgment dated April 8, 2024, the cleric accused Abubakar of publishing libellous statements on her Instagram page halimabubakar, which was published by several blogs and newspapers.
The cleric specifically said Abubakar accused him of being a womaniser and diabolical, among others.
The cleric, said the statement by Abubakar through her Instagram handle was falsely and maliciously written and published to the general public.
In his judgment, Justice Enobie Obanor noted that Abubakar was allowed to defend herself in the matter but failed to do so.
The judgment read, “This issue is therefore resolved in favour of the claimant. Accordingly, judgment is entered in favour of the claimant as follows:
“A declaration that the statements published by the defendant against the claimant on her Instagram handle halimabubakar, falsely and maliciously written and published to the general public, are defamatory of the person of the claimant.
“The sum of N10,000,000.00 only to the claimant as aggravated and exemplary damages for libel contained in the publication of the defendant against the claimant on her Instagram handle @Halimabubakar and caused to be published in several blogs.”
The judge also ordered Abubakar to publish a retraction of her defamatory statements on her Instagram handle Halimabubakar.
“An order of this Honourable Court compelling the defendant to pay for the deleting of all links and reportage of the said defamatory comments on all platforms on the internet”, the judge added.
From The Nigerianlawyer
