Rights lawyer and convener of the Open Bar Initiative (OBI), Silas Joseph Onu, has asked the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court to dismiss a libel suit preferred against him by Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai.

Governor El-Rufai, had in a suit marked FCT/HC/CV/3133/2020, sought reparation to the tune of N500 million and an apology over a letter written by Mr. Onu, which had asked the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to withdraw its invitation to the governor as one of the headline speakers for the 2020 annual conference of the association.

Counsel to Mr. El-Rufai, Abdulhakeem Mustapha — a senior advocate posited that the letter dated August 19, 2020, and addressed to the NBA leadership was “defamatory and greatly injurious” to the reputation of the governor when circulated by the media.

Mr. Onu’s letter had partly read: “We regret that our Association, whose Motto is ‘Promoting the Rule of Law’ extended this invitation to a man who represents the very antithesis of what we profess to defend.”

It added: “We, therefore, write as members of the NBA and citizens of Nigeria to request that this invitation should be withdrawn,” while highlighting Mr. El-Rufai’s perceived intolerance for press freedom, his alleged persecution of critics, as well as numerous vile remarks credited to him.

In his statement of defence on December 2, Mr. Onu who chairs the OBI — a collective of lawyers who are also members of the NBA, argued that the letter was an official communication to the Association, which he stated was a closed group of professionals, of which the claimant (Mr. El-Rufai) was not a member.

Counsel to the rights lawyer, Abdulaziz Ibrahim, explained that the alleged defamatory statements were derived from various newspaper reports, opinions and statements, which were also in the public space.

Mr. Ibrahim stressed that “the claimant has been reckless in his utterances, hubristic in outlook and irresponsible with power.”

He also queried why the claimant did not deny, rebut or join issues with any of the newspaper reports, statements and opinions reviewed by the Open Bar Initiative prior to its controversial letter to the NBA.

While noting that the August 19 correspondence to the NBA was not malicious, but an honest opinion written in good faith to protect the goodwill of the Association, Mr. Onu and his lawyers prayed the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety and award substantial cost in their favour against Governor El-Rufai, on the ground that the suit was frivolous and amounts to vindictive exercise.

Mr. El-Rufai has been severely chided by many Nigerians for his barrage of inciteful comments, which citizens believe are unbecoming for a top public official.

The Kaduna governor had in the build-up to the 2019 general elections threatened foreign election observers with death and being carried home in body bags if they interfered with the polls. 

Adjudged to be the governor with the highest level of intolerance for press freedom in Nigeria, Mr. El-Rufai is also infamous for hounding critics of his administration with agents of state.

The Kaduna chief executive has yet to publicly denounce his widely believed distaste for press freedom, but has, nonetheless, thrown his weight behind calls for stifling of hate speech in Nigeria.