Home News IBD Dende charges FIJ and Fisayo to court, demands N500 million
News

IBD Dende charges FIJ and Fisayo to court, demands N500 million

470
Court Sentence

A legal battle is about to commence, as legal representatives of IBD Dende, led by Bola Aidi (SAN) & Co., fired off a pre-action letter to ‘Fisayo Soyombo, the founder of FIJ (Foundation for Investigative Journalism).

The letter demanded N500 million in damages and a retraction of his investigative piece titled “Undercover as a Smuggler,” among other requests.

The investigative documentary, published on FIJ, came under fire from IBD Dende’s legal team, who labelled it as libellous.

Specifically, they condemned the allegations made in the documentary, as well as subsequent tweets, regarding their client’s purported involvement in smuggling activities while collaborating with Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) officials.

In response, FIJ’s legal representative, Slingstone Law, has rebuffed the demands within three hours of receiving the pre-action letter.

Abimbola Ojenike, leading the legal team, sent a persistent message to Bola Aidi, signalling their readiness to take the matter to court.

The pre-action letter, as seen by FIJ’s legal team, accused the documentary of being spurious and damaging to their client’s reputation.

It highlighted passages from the documentary, including comparisons between their client and criminal elements, as particularly egregious and defamatory.

In a bold rebuttal, FIJ’s legal team rejected the allegations, asserting their client’s right to investigative journalism and freedom of speech. They emphasised their confidence in defending against what they deemed as baseless and factually untrue accusations.

“FIJ welcomes the opportunity to have a day in Court as assured in the March 15 letter from Bola Aidi (SAN) & Co.,” as stated by FIJ.

Read: EU Lawmaker Accuses Ukraine Of Moscow Terrorist Attack

About The Author

Related Articles

Nigeria’s inflation rebasing
FinanceNews

Nigeria’s Inflation Drops to 24.48% After CPI Rebasing, Hardship Persists 

Nigeria’s inflation rate fell to 24.48 per cent in January 2025 from...

Nigerian subscribers have expressed outrage following Airtel Nigeria’s decision to increase its data and call tariffs, raising the cost of various data bundles and increasing call tariffs from 18 kobo per second to 25 kobo per second.
News

Subscribers Lament as Airtel Increases Data and Call Price by 50 per cent

Subscribers have expressed outrage following Airtel Nigeria’s decision to increase its data...

Manufacturers
BusinessNews

Manufacturers Association Says “Sector Is on Its Last Breath,” Tells FG to Stop Interest Rate Hikes

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has raised alarm over the deteriorating...

BusinessNews

Commuters Say Niger Republic Has Begun Restricting Travellers with Only ECOWAS Passport

Niger Republic has started imposing restrictions on Nigerians using the ECOWAS passport,...