A Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered Nollywood actress, Halima Abubakar, to pay N10 million to Apostle Johnson Suleiman, the founder of Omega Fire Ministries International, for publishing defamatory posts against him on social media.
Justice Enobie Obanor, who presided over the case, ordered the actress to pay the sum as aggravated and general damages for tarnishing the image of the cleric.
The court also directed Abubakar to retract all the defamatory posts she made against Suleiman via her Instagram handle.
Suleiman filed the defamation suit against the actress, citing derogatory posts made by Abubakar, in which she labelled him a womaniser and a highly diabolic man who took advantage of women.
The cleric demanded N1 billion as damages and N20 million to cover the cost of the litigation. Justice Obanor entered judgment against Abubakar since she was given ample opportunity to defend herself but failed to do so.
The cleric told the court that the actress made several libellous statements against him on her Instagram page, which were subsequently published by many blogs and mainstream media outlets.
He told the court that the defendant had among other things, labelled him as a womaniser and a highly diabolic man that took advantage of women.
The cleric cited some of the derogatory posts that were made against him by the defendant, to include: “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 it’s 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, Texts, etc. Sule, she believed you. Nigerians this man is dangerous and a hazard to society from ppl like this.”
He told the court that all the allegations were not only false but maliciously published yo sent his reputation in the eyes of the public.
