Court fines Halima Abubakar N10m for defaming Apostle Suleman

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has slammed a N10 million fine on Nollywood actress Halima Abubakar for defaming Apostle Suleman, the General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministry Worldwide.

The judgement delivered by Justice Enobie Obanor, in case no: FCT/HC/ CV/ 3413/2022, noted that the statements published by Halima Abubakar against Apostle Suleman were false and malicious.

The court also restrained Halima from further publishing defamatory statements against the flamboyant cleric.

In 2022, Halima called out Suleman on social media while claiming the pair once dated.

But Suleman threatened to sue her for “defamatory statements”.

The matter appeared to have died down afterward as reports of Halima’s battle with an undisclosed illness surfaced.

According to the Certified True Copy of the judgment, the Mr Suleman accused Abubakar of publishing libellous statements on her Instagram page @halimabubakar, which was published by several blogs and newspapers.

The cleric, while giving an account of everything Abubakar accused him of through her Instagram channel, said her statements were falsely and maliciously written and published to the general public.

According to him, he was a womaniser and diabolical, among others.

Meanwhile, in his judgment, Justice Enobie Obanor noted that Abubakar was allowed to defend herself in the matter but failed to do so.

The judgment reads, “This issue is therefore resolved in favour of the claimant. Accordingly, judgment is entered in favour of the claimant as follows:

“A declaration that the statements published by the defendant against the claimant on her Instagram handle @halimabubakar, falsely and maliciously written and published to the general public, are defamatory of the person of the claimant.

“The sum of N10,000,000.00 only to the claimant as aggravated and exemplary damages for libel contained in the publication of the defendant against the claimant on her Instagram handle @Halimabubakar and caused to be published in several blogs.”

The judge also ordered Abubakar to publish a retraction of her defamatory statements on her Instagram handle @Halimabubakar.

“An order of this Honourable Court compelling the defendant to pay for the deleting of all links and reportage of the said defamatory comments on all platforms on the internet”.