…Witness Admits There Was “No Invasion” by Operatives
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has fixed February 19 for the adoption of final written addresses in the N5 billion defamation suit filed against the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, and its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare.
At the resumed hearing on Monday, the 2nd defendant, Oluwadare, opened his defence after the court granted a housekeeping application allowing an amendment of the defence processes.
Testifying as Defence Witness 2 (DW2), he adopted his witness statement on oath and offered further clarifications on SERAP’s work and the events surrounding the alleged invasion of its Abuja office.
However, during cross-examination, he maintained that operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) were present around SERAP’s premises on the day in question, which prompted public alerts by the organisation on social media.
He stated that he was informed of the presence of the operatives by several staff members, including the front-desk officer, Vivian Amadi.
When asked whether any staff member was assaulted or whether any doors were broken, Oluwadare confirmed that there was no physical attack.
Responding to questions about the timing of a tweet made by SERAP, he acknowledged that although the officials were not inside the premises at the moment the tweet was posted, he suspected they were still within the vicinity.
He also admitted under cross-examination that he used strong expressions such as “unlawful,” “invasion,” “intimidation,” and “harassment” in some publications—words which, he conceded, may have wrongly conveyed the impression that an invasion had occurred.
Following his testimony, counsel for the claimants, Oluwagbemileke Kehinde, informed the court that both parties had closed their cases and requested a date for adoption of final written addresses.
Justice Halilu commended both sides for the timely conduct of the matter and adjourned the case to February 19 for filing and adoption of final written addresses.
The claimants, Sarah John and Gabriel Ogunleye, officials of the SSS, are alleging that SERAP defamed them through publications suggesting that they unlawfully invaded the organisation’s office, thereby damaging their reputation as law-abiding security operatives.
SERAP and its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, are listed as the 1st and 2nd defendants respectively.
