Revolutionary activist and lawyer, Oghenero ABU looks at the repressive use of defamation laws by the state and leading members of the ruling class, in the light of recent developments in Nigeria such as the abductions, arrests and persecution of Dele Farotimi and Olamide Thomas, in the new edition of the Socialist Worker.
As human society advances, old ways fade and new ones emerge. For human ideas and social practices to develop, moments of transition emerge through contestation, in which progressive ideas and forces supplant once dominant conceptions. For a new world to be born, it must emerge out of the ruins of the old order. The reversal of this pattern leads to a regression in social development.
Humankind has transitioned through different stages and epochs during its short leasehold here on planet earth. From the times of barbarism, primitive obscurity and the preponderance of superstition, we have evolved into eras marked by technological leaps not known to any other species. But none of these periods of transition came without a form of struggle, and confrontation with the existing order. Indeed, it is out of the hot fiery furnace of confrontation with the irreconcilable contradictions of our material reality that the tools of humanity’s advancement have been forged.
Within the various fields of human endeavor, there have been noticeably great leaps in the modes and tools of practice, as well as the ethical tenets practitioners are bound by. The field of medicine is one which has enjoyed many such leaps, even in recent memory, with practitioners now being able to carry out serious procedures using advanced technology. This is a remarkable point, considering where we are coming from. From attributing illnesses and diseases to divine and unknown forces to early scientific understanding of those diseases, we’ve advanced to a point where even the most complex procedures can be completed quickly and safely.
These advancements have also been observed in the field of law and human rights as well. Over the decades, the scope of human rights has been broadened and expanded to include more people and more areas. From women not being allowed to vote less than a century ago in most parts of the “democratic” world, to now when women are heads of national governments. Recognition of the rights of LGBTQ+ people have also gradually increased over the years, even though reactionary opposition to this expansion remains in several countries, including Nigeria. We have seen a dialectical progression in the field of human rights, just as in the other fields of human endeavor.
Freedom of speech is another very important right which has greatly expanded and benefitted from the advancement of humankind.
In the United States of America, the so-called bastion of modern democracy, the very first amendment of the constitution was enacted to protect the sanctity of free speech. The right to freely express oneself is what distinguishes a modern democratic country from a tyrannic autocracy. When individuals are no longer allowed to speak their truth on matters which they deem fit, there is a restriction on their humanity. We must defend this right even within the limitations of capitalist democracy, which primarily promotes the class interests of the propertied classes.
Draftsmen of constitutions all over the world have made sure to include this very fundamental right within the pages of their laws. Nigeria in particular dedicated the letters of Section 39(1) of The Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, to this task.
The section provides in succinct terms that;
“Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impact ideas and information without interference.”
The fundamental role this right plays in safeguarding the democratic freedom of a citizen in relation to the state and the powerful people the state represents , is one that cannot be overstated. In Nigeria, there have been a handful of cases before the court which have solidified the importance of free speech in our society.
The 2018 case of Elombah v. Police is one of such cases that has affirmed this democratic position. In that case, the Nigerian Police detained two brothers who were journalists, Daniel and Izuchukwu Elombah, on allegations that they had published an article critical of Mr. Ibrahim Idris, the Inspector General of Police at the time. The brothers were awarded N 5 million in damages.
Also, in the 2001 case of Doctors for All (Nigeria) v. Federal Republic of Nigeria, the ECOWAS Court of Justice held that the Nigerian government’s restriction on the publication of a report on the dastardly state of healthcare in Nigeria, was a violation of the right to freedom of speech and expression.
Even before the fourth republic, in the murky terrain of military rule amidst assassinations and executions, ardent defenders protected and defended this right to free speech against the might of brutal dictators. When the state starts to put gags on the mouths of individuals and organisations to stifle their voices, we are duty-bound to resist and defend our democratic right to free speech.
According to Karl Marx, “The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie” and in the context within which he made this assertion, “the State” means the institutions of the State, which includes the laws and the legal framework of the State.
In the arsenal of the ruling class, one of the weapons at their disposal in the battle against free speech is the offence of defamation. Defamation refers to the act of making false statements against a person which harms their reputation. In terms of its relations with the people, defamation as a threat and a tool of the elite exists on two levels; on a public/government level, and on a private/individual level. The former refers to the government’s collective ability to use the threat of punishment for defamation and/or the actual punishment for defamation to prevent the poor and oppressed people of the country from speaking out against their oppressors. This threat and punishment, used by the capitalist class to oppress individual workers and peasants who dare challenge their superiority, is what the latter refers to. The ruling class conveniently uses this weapon of defamation; they label any criticism as defamatory, thus prosecuting those who speak out against them. When two sets of capitalists contend, the cost pales in comparison to the devastation defamation inflicts upon the working class.
Also, in most parts of Nigeria, defamation exists in two realms of law; civil and criminal. What this means is that in many parts of Nigeria, a person can be made to face criminal liability for defamation or/and civil liability. Thus, you may be given a prison sentence for defamation.
, There has been a noticeable increase in the number of criminal defamation actions instituted against persons outside of the capitalist class who have dared to challenge and speak against the machinations of these oppressors over the last few months.
We recently saw the abduction and export of a lawyer, Dele Farotimi by the police from Lagos to Ekiti State to face the Afe Babalola justice system that reigns supreme there. He was unlawfully detained and made to spend weeks in prison custody. All of this befell him simply for highlighting in his book, the ways in which the senior lawyer with a long history of siding with the oppressors, uses his influential standing in society to subvert justice.
The reaction to this from Babalola and his acolytes was one of disgust that necessitates punishment. Like an exuberant toddler soiling your new carpet who is in need of a spanking to deter them from ever repeating the offence, they dealt with Farotimi.
Even more recently, we saw the punitive arrest and detention of Comrade Olamide Thomas by the state’s official bandits for allegedly speaking against the son of President Bola Tinubu. They locked her up for periods far exceeding what is constitutionally allowed, for allegedly “insulting” a member of the ruling class.
During this administration, we are seeing a backward march of retrogression, countering the years of progress made in the battle for the protection of human rights. These cases also show the power the ruling class brings to bear in controlling what narratives about their class is let out, and how sternly they react to any attempt to challenge those narratives.
We can see defamation as an offence being a tool meant to uphold and protect the spirit of the dictatorship of the ruling class; a spirit of supremacy over all, a domination of the powerful over the powerless.
In a private discussion on this topic, I, at a point, raised a question, asking, in what instance could it be said that the governor of my state defamed me? It seemed so absurd that a poor, young, nobody could be defamed by an almighty governor. This highlighted to me the existing class dynamic and bias in this Law.
We must resist this growing trend. Because, once the right to free speech is eroded, we will be a people without a voice, stranded in a wilderness, and thrown into a time-machine back to an era that humanity is supposed to have long developed and evolved away from. We must resist this Power Show!
The death of judicial activism in Nigeria has ensured that we see a decline in the protection and enforcement of our fundamental rights. The bench and the bar have become a kernel for puppies who can go nowhere without sucking on the breasts of the government in power., Even though, as an institution, they collectively protect the interests of the ruling class, those among them with a conscience must take it upon themselves to ensure that the rights of the people are protected.
In whose interest the laws of the bourgeois state were ultimately created has never been under debate. We are aware that in a class society under the dictatorship of the capitalists, the interest and rights of the poor and working people are secondary, and so, we are aware that our struggle against the class’s weaponisation of defamation must be tied with our struggle for the transformation of society.
We must stand in solidarity with all those who have been wickedly put on trial for this anti-people law. From Speed Darlington v Burna Boy, to Farotimi v Afe, to Olamide v The Tinubu’s, we can see the power and class dynamics at play. We call for all charges of defamation against them to be dropped, as we fight against the class domination of capitalists and their oppression of the poor working masses.
The use of defamation laws as an instrument of class domination and for constricting free speech undermines the democratic ethos we need to build a liberated society. We thus call for, and must fight to abolish these reactionary laws.
