The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has appealed against a ₦100 million damages award entered against it by the Federal Capital Territory High Court in a defamation suit filed by two officers of Nigeria’s Department of Security Service (SSS).
The appeal is scheduled for hearing on Friday before the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.
SERAP is asking the appellate court to set aside the judgment delivered by Justice Yusuf Halilu on May 5, 2026, which found the organisation liable and awarded ₦100 million in damages against it.
The appeal also challenges consequential orders made by the trial court, including the directive requiring SERAP to publish an apology.
In its Appellant’s Brief of Argument, dated September 3, 2026 and filed by its counsel, Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, SERAP raised 24 grounds of appeal.
The organisation said the appeal raises important questions about the essential elements of defamation, the evidential burden required to establish that allegedly defamatory publications referred to specific individuals, the competence of evidence relied upon by the trial court, and the protection of freedom of expression and public-interest advocacy.
At the centre of the appeal is whether the two SSS officers established through credible evidence that the publications complained of actually referred to them.
SERAP contends that the publications did not name the respondents and that the descriptions contained in them were general physical descriptions which, without additional evidence, could not sufficiently identify the particular individuals who instituted the defamation action.
The dispute arose from a publication by SERAP on September 9, 2024, concerning an alleged invasion of its Abuja office by DSS officers.
The organisation had published the account after calling on President Bola Tinubu to investigate allegations of corruption at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and reverse increases in fuel prices.
SERAP’s appeal therefore places questions of individual reputation alongside broader issues of freedom of expression and advocacy on matters of public interest.
The Court of Appeal’s decision will determine whether the trial court was right to hold SERAP liable for defamation and award damages based on the evidence presented before it.
