PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria – The Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt has ordered Union Bank Plc and Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation Newspaper, to pay Dec Oil and Gas Limited N500 million in damages for libel.
In a publication on August 3, 2015, The Nation Newspaper, through Union Bank Plc, reported that Dec Oil and Gas was in debt to Union Bank to the tune of N15.7 billion.
The article also named Mr. Patrick Sule Ugboma and Mr. Pius Malaka as directors of Dec Oil and Gas, in what was considered a deliberate attempt to embarrass and tarnish their reputation.
Dec Oil and Gas refuted the claims and subsequently filed a libel suit against the newspaper and the bank in 2015.
On June 6, 2023, Justice David Gbasam, delivering the judgment, stated that the defendants failed to provide evidence supporting their claims of Dec Oil and Gas’s indebtedness to the bank.
Furthermore, the court ordered Union Bank and Vintage Press to retract the publication and issue a public apology to the claimants, which includes Dec Oil & Gas, Mr. Ugboma, and Mr. Malaka.
This apology must be published in at least five national newspapers.
Justice Gbasam described the publication as “unjust, reckless, and libelous.”
He decreed that Union Bank and Vintage Press “jointly and severally pay over to the claimants the sum of N500,000,000.00 only as general damages for libel and breach of the duty of confidentiality and or fiduciary relationship owed the claimants by the 1st defendant”.
Additionally, the court issued a perpetual injunction, preventing Vintage Press and Union Bank from publishing any further libellous material related to the claimants.
This ruling highlights the significant legal consequences of publishing unsubstantiated claims, particularly when these claims can potentially damage reputations and breach confidentiality.
