The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has fixed February 24, 2026, to hear the suit filed by the founder of PRNigeria, Yushau A. Shuaib, against the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau.

The matter was scheduled for Monday, but it did not proceed.

Mr Shuaib instituted the suit challenging what he described as his unlawful withdrawal from the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 47 after his admission had been approved by President Bola Tinubu and all required payments and conditions had been fulfilled.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1329/2025, the plaintiff is seeking ₦1 billion in general and aggravated damages for emotional trauma and reputational harm allegedly caused by NIPSS.

He is also demanding ₦100 million as litigation costs, following a pre-action notice he issued on June 16 to the director-general of NIPSS, Ayo Omotayo, which he said was ignored.

The suit filed by Yunus Abdulsalam (SAN), seeks an order setting aside his withdrawal from SEC 47 and reinstating him with full rights, benefits, and privileges.

Mr Shuaib is also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining NIPSS, its agents, or officials from further harassment, intimidation, or cyberbullying.

In his originating summons, he raised eight issues for determination.

He argued that a PRNigeria news article could not lawfully be attributed to him as misconduct since he neither authored nor endorsed it.

He also questioned the legality of NIPSS allegedly accessing and using his private email without consent.

This, he said, violated his constitutional right to privacy under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution.

He also said that barring other course participants from interacting with him and removing him from official platforms amounted to harassment, cyberbullying, and isolation.

Mr Shuaib claimed that denying him participation in the international study tour, despite paying ₦18.3 million in course fees, constituted discrimination and breach of contract.

He argued that his suspension and withdrawal over alleged “externalisation of the subject” without a fair hearing violated Section 36(1) of the Constitution.

In a 40-paragraph affidavit, Mr Shuaib stated that he was nominated by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) to represent it on the course, a nomination approved by the president.

He alleged that despite meeting all requirements, he was subjected to harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary disciplinary actions.

Mr Shuaib said he received a query on March 24 over a PRNigeria article titled “NIPSS Goes Digital; Launches Paperless Platform after Submitting Landmark Report to President Tinubu.”

He insisted that he neither authored nor edited the story, which had been widely reported by other media organisations.

The plaintiff is asking the court to reinstate him into SEC 47 with full privileges and to declare that NIPSS lacks the authority to penalise him for content published by an independent platform.

(NAN)