Always think very well before you publish because while your freedom of speech is guaranteed, your freedom after your speech isn’t always guaranteed, depending on the verasity of your speech.
News papers and other mass print, electronic, social media, and the internet (cyber) space have of late been inundated with damaging allegations of all manners of malfeasance leveled against the Imo State Governor, H.E. Governor Hope Uzodinma by his former commissioner of Foreign and Internationalaffairs, Hon. Fabian Ihekweme.
Universally, citizens tend to think that they can not only call their elected officers to order but can also call them all sorts of derogatory names and broadcast the same to the world. Some also seem to believe that the same targeted public officers shouldn’t react to these attacks because they’re either elected or appointed to serve the public or else they shall be accused of high handedness.
Yet ordinary private citizens are in the courts every day, prosecuting those who allegedly defamed them, and people hardly ever accuses these private citizens of applying high handedness tactics in their pursuit of judicial remedies.
What makes these incidents of arrest and detention of say, Nonsonkwa, and now Ihekweme notorious is that most lay men are not fully aware of the scope of our jurisprudence as we often tend to assume and expect that the governor would file a civil action for libel and slander against his accusers instead of petitioning to the police and initiating a criminal proceeding, which begins from arrest and detention of the accused.
A civil action doesn’t involve arrest and detention, and therefore hardly provokes our sympathy for the party who’s sued to court for monetary damages.
But when you decide to accuse and defame a governor or even a private citizen, you need to know that the law gives the person you defame either by way of slander or libel, the right to have the police arrest, prosecute and possibly imprison you. It’s the law! The law doesn’t exclude or prohibit governors and other high public and civil servants from electing to “call” the police when they believe that their character is soiled, damaged, or smeared by anyone.
However, this right to invite the police, much like many other rights or privileges, can easily be abused. It’s then left to the courts to decide whether or not the complainant and the state prosecutor have brought a good case before it or otherwise dismiss the case and discharge the accused.
A discharged defendant is not left without recourse by the law. He has the right to bring an action for malicious prosecution against his accuser, in the same criminal court, or file a civil action.
My position is that before you embark on publishing and broadcasting serious accusations of moral turpitude, such as murder, fraud, financial malfeasance, or putting out false narratives which is capable of undermining government and private persons, you need to stand ready to defend the allegations you’re making. This is more so with the introduction of the so-called CYBER CRIMES Act. The establishment of this law is to curb the irresponsible use of the internet to spread false and damaging information within the interstate and globally. I dare say that the statements and publications of Nonsonkwa and Ihekweme fall within the purview of cyber crimes, provided and assuming that what they alleged is false information.
No matter on whose side one belongs in this hot debate, the law has guaranteed us freedom of speech but also guaranteed persons offended by our speech their day in court to seek redress for malicious statements and publications. In other words, there is freedom of speech, but there may not be freedom after speech, depending on the verasity of your speech.
By Dr. Barr. Sam Ozurumba Ejiogu
The above is an opinion piece by Dr Barrister Sam Ozurumba Ejiogu.
Barrister Sam Ejiogu is a US-trained Attorney who has successfully practiced law for many years in the United States Of America.
He’s also licensed to practice and practices in Nigeria where he runs a very successful law firm.
He’s a political and media consultant and a public commentator. His activism and advocacy have been very fruitful, especially in the areas of philanthropy, youth empowerment, women empowerment, geriatric care, among others.
All opinions expressed are those of the author’s and not necessarily of We4We Media’s. We4We Media and associated entities are indemnified in any resultant actions from this opinion piece.
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