Welcome to Nigeria. Here, in this beloved country of ours, ignorance of the law is no excuse.
As little as many see defamation, libel, and even slander, many have faced heavy consequences for engaging in them either knowingly or out of ignorance, or perhaps mere cruise.
The story we are about telling you is that of Dele Farotimi, a human rights lawyer.
Make no mistake, Farotimi is currently chilling in prison following an alleged defamation of character.
Now, a High Court in Abuja has issued an interim injunction barring the Lagos-based lawyer from publishing, selling, or distributing any copies—physical, digital, or otherwise—of his book titled ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System.’
The order also extends to his agents, publishers, and a range of prominent booksellers, including Amazon, Rovingheights, Jazzhole Lagos, and Glendora Bookshop.
Well, Farotimi’s story does not form the spine of this story.
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In this article, we will take a little time to explore defamation, libel, and slander so as to have a good understanding of this terms.
This will help us play safe with our speeches or our write ups.
You see, in this part of the world, ‘defamation’, ‘libel’ and ‘slander’ are often used in everyday parlance to mean the same thing, they have specific legal meanings.
Defamation
Defamation in the simplest term is the act of publishing an untrue statement which negatively affects someone’s reputation.
Libel
Libel refers to permanent defamatory statements, so anything which is written (books, newspapers, letters), anything which is broadcast or stored in digital form or any other form could be classified as libel.
Slander
Slander is a defamatory statement which is non-permanent. In essence, it covers defamatory statements which aren’t included under libel. The key example is spoken word – an untrue statement whispered in the ear of the right person can be devastating to an individual, and so the law recognises this.
