RismadarVoice Reporters, May 8, 2026
Legal practitioner and media law scholar, Richard Akinnola, has criticised a faction of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) over its call on the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to immediately comply with a court judgment awarding damages to officials of the Department of State Services (DSS).
In a statement issued on Friday, Akinnola described the position taken by the CDHR faction, led by President Debo Adeniran and Publicity Secretary Jeremiah Onyibe, as “embarrassingly shocking,” questioning why the group publicly sided with a security agency against what he described as “a member of their constituency.”
The CDHR faction had reportedly urged SERAP to pay the N100 million damages awarded against it by an FCT High Court for defamation involving two DSS officials, despite SERAP’s indication that it would appeal the judgment after obtaining the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the ruling.
Akinnola said he found it troubling that activists who were part of past struggles for civil liberties would demand immediate compliance with a judgment still subject to appeal.
Drawing parallels with historical legal cases, he cited the 1989 defamation suit against late human rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi by security chiefs Haliru Akilu and Kunle Togun, noting that the judgment against Fawehinmi was later overturned on appeal.
He also questioned why the CDHR faction had not similarly pressured the Federal Government to comply with several judgments obtained by SERAP over the years, or demanded immediate payment by Nigeria following the $6.6 billion arbitral award in the P&ID case before the government successfully appealed.
Akinnola, who described himself as a teacher of media and defamation law, said while freedom of expression must be exercised responsibly, parties dissatisfied with judgments have a constitutional right to appeal.
He warned against what he termed attempts to undermine press freedom and civic activism, recalling the role played by some individuals during the military era in supporting restrictive laws such as Decree 4 under the Buhari military government.
The lawyer maintained that disagreements within the human rights community should not result in public attacks on groups pursuing legal redress, especially while appeal processes remain ongoing.
