Following the arrest of human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, “for defamation”, Reno Omokri said: “I fully support the arrest and detention of people who commit criminal libel or defamation in Nigeria. Because if you rely on suing those who criminally libel or defame you in Nigeria, you will hardly get justice even though you spend money and time in court.
 |
| Dele Farotimi |
“Please fact-check me: General Obasanjo sued a newspaper for libel in 1982 and abandoned the case in the mid-nineties because of the slow pace of getting justice.
As long as Nigerians know that libel and slender cases are extremely expensive and time consuming, they will keep on criminally slandering and libelling others. If you call them out, they will say go to court. Even if you go to court, the slanderer will hide and dodge the service of court papers, like Omoyele Sowore, @YeleSowore, and Sahara Reporters did to me after writing lies about me.
And in the unlikely event that you can conclude a libel, slander or defamation case in Nigeria within ten years, Nigerian courts are notorious for awarding ridiculously small amounts against the libeller. You go to court, stay there for twelve years, and spend millions in lawyers fees, only to be awarded ₦350,000 in damages? Is it then worth it?
Why should you reduce yourself to a victim by spending twelve years of your short life fighting to cheat your name while the slanderer, libeller and defamer faces little or no repercussions?
If actions do not have consequences, they will keep occurring, and gullible Nigerians will rush to social media trending hashtags until they are the ones who are victims of the lies and slander. Why should the onus be on the person you slandered or libelled to prove that you lied? You should be the one to prove your story or claims are true.
If we do not take harsh measures against such persons, people will just come on social media to vituperate and savage the reputations of persons they do not like, knowing that there are few reliefs available to such persons in civil court against them.”
I fully support the arrest and detention of people who commit criminal libel or defamation in Nigeria. Because if you rely on suing those who criminally libel or defame you in Nigeria, you will hardly get justice even though you spend money and time in court.
Please fact-check…
— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) December 4, 2024
