By Francesca Hangeior
A Federal Capital Territory High Court has ordered Nollywood actress, Halima Abubakar, to pay N10m as damages to the Senior Pastor and General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries International, Apostle Johnson Suleman, for publishing derogatory comments against him.
The court also restrained her from further publishing defamatory statements against the cleric.
According to the Certified True Copy of the judgment dated April 8, 2024, the cleric accused Abubakar of publishing libellous statements on her Instagram page @halimabubakar, which was published by several blogs and newspapers.
The cleric specifically said Abubakar accused him of being a womaniser and diabolical, among others.
Abubakar said, “Shan, you said you don’t think I am smart? lol, ask Sule. At your big age am glad Gistlover sent that list. Thank you gistlover for calling me out. I for dey lie and lie for Sule? Never. God bless you gistlover. But your list is small for real. Johnson try me.
“Supporting you on your lies won’t work again. Anyone who involves his/her self will be tagged a bloodsucker. All of you supporting nonsense. No be Sule again, why do they bleed? They know the truth.
“Johnson Suleman wake up and untie her!! you must untie her. You owe her two kids you evil man… Not even how is your health for 4 years… my sister must survive O!
“PIs, don’t worry about me. But you can hold Johnson Suleman responsible just in case you can’t do anything though. Nigerians be aware, if anything happens Johnson you.
“You told her to wait for you to find out why! Knowing well what you did. Giving you space is not possible. How many women have you done this to? you said it yourself that you can’t solve it! why can’t you solve it? Then you disappeared. Not a word since! With all the calls, Tex’s, etc. Sule, she believed you. Nigerians this man is dangerous and a hazard to society from ppl like this.”
The cleric, however, said the statement by Abubakar through her Instagram handle was falsely and maliciously written and published to the general public.
In his judgment, Justice Enobie Obanor noted that Abubakar was allowed to defend herself in the matter but failed to do so.
The judgment read, “This issue is therefore resolved in favour of the claimant. Accordingly, judgment is entered in favour of the claimant as follows:
“A declaration that the statements published by the defendant against the claimant on her Instagram handle @halimabubakar, falsely and maliciously written and published to the general public, are defamatory of the person of the claimant.
“The sum of N10,000,000.00 only to the claimant as aggravated and exemplary damages for libel contained in the publication of the defendant against the claimant on her Instagram handle @Halimabubakar and caused to be published in several blogs.”
The judge also ordered Abubakar to publish a retraction of her defamatory statements on her Instagram handle @Halimabubakar.
“An order of this Honourable Court compelling the defendant to pay for the deleting of all links and reportage of the said defamatory comments on all platforms on the internet”, the judge added.