The Supreme Court of Nigeria today 26th of May 2025 ordered an Abuja based newspaper; The Abuja Inquirer to deposit the sum of 10 Million naira awarded in favour of Hon Kingsley Kuku in a libel suit brought against the newspaper for it’s defamatory publication against Hon Kingsley Kuku in 2015 into the Registry of the court.
The Supreme Court presided over by Hon Justice Okoro (Justice of the Supreme Court) directed that the money be deposited into an interest yielding account of the court within 60 days from today pending the hearing and determination of the appeal brought by the newspaper and it’s publisher Gazetta Communication LTD.
The Supreme Court motion marked SC/CV/1106/2022 was filed on the 8th of May 2024 by counsel to Hon Kuku, Solomon TUNYAN esq who argued that the appellant are in disobedience of the lower courts judgment since 2017 when the judgment of the High court of FCT was delivered in favour of Hon Kuku awarding him the sum of 10 Million naira and a subsequent appeal to the court of appeal was dismissed on the 14th of June 2022 in appeal No CA/A/834/2017 and since this time the judgment debt had been in the hands of the appellant.
Solomon TUNYAN urged the apex court to grant the prayers in the application.
Other Justices in the Supreme Court panel agreed and granted the relief accordingly.
The Newspaper was represented in court by its counsel B.E Offiong esq.
It is instructive to note that, this landmark judgement highlights the significance of the Supreme Court’s decisions. The court’s decision has far-reaching implications for the media industry and underscores the importance of responsible and objective journalism.
