A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court will on Tuesday deliver judgment in a N5.5 billion defamation suit filed by two operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) against the Incorporated Trustees of Socio- Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).
This is the first time in Nigeria that security operatives would be suing for defamation in their private capacity as a result of reports from their official assignments.
The group had on September 9, 2024 alleged that DSS operatives “unlawfully invaded” its Abuja office under the guise of wanting to see their directors. SERAP added in several social media posts that the DSS operatives not only invade and unlawfully occupy its Abuja office but also harassed their staff members.
According to SERAP in one of the posts on its X (Twitter) handle: “Officers from Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS) are presently unlawfully occupying SERAP’s office in Abuja, asking to see our directors.
“President Tinubu must immediately direct the SSS to end the harassment, intimidation, and attack on the rights of Nigerians.”
On the heels of SERAP’s allegations, the DSS issued a statement clarifying that the visit by its two officers, Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele, was routine and aimed at familiarizing with the organisation’s new leadership.
SERAP, however, stood its ground, insisting that the DSS operatives invaded its Abuja office and assaulted staff members.
After weeks of several attempts by the DSS to make SERAP state what the secret police called “facts of the visit,” the DSS officers, who said they were humiliated by the allegations and subjected to disciplinary action, filed a N5.5 billion defamation suit against SERAP.
The two operatives asserted that no invasion occurred and that the SERAP report greatly damaged their reputation.
However, on November 26, 2025, SERAP issued another statement, insisting that DSS officers indeed illegally invaded its Abuja office.
SERAP, in a statement by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, restated: “We stand by our statements of defence and statements on oath filed in court by our lawyers, Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, and the correct reporting of what actually happened in court on Monday, November 24, 2025, that the DSS unlawfully invaded our Abuja office.”
Throughout court proceedings, witnesses affirmed that no physical assault occurred.
SERAP’s Oluwadare was to later tell the court that the reports of the invasion were based on information he got from one Vivian Amadi, his front-desk officer.
The two DSS officers, in the suit, accused SERAP of making false claims that they invaded their Abuja office.
While adopting the final written address of the claimants on February 19, 2026, their lawyer, Oluwagbemileke Samuel Kehinde, urged the court to grant all the reliefs sought by his clients.
He urged the court to discountenance SERAP’s address and further argued that the claimants had substantially proved their case having established that the officers were the people referred to in the alleged defamatory publication made by the defendants
Kehinde argued that, as against the argument by the defendants, every person in the society must know the claimants before they can succeed in a defamation claim.
He added that it was sufficient that the claimants’ colleague sare aware of the alleged defamatory publication and understood that it referred to the claimants (the DSS officers).
Justice Halilu Yusuf thereafter announced in the open court that he had reserved judgement and that the date would be communicated to the parties.
Listed with SERAP as defendants in the suit, marked: CV/4547/2024, is its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare.
