The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja today, 5th December, 2025, has dismissed the suit filed under the Fundamental Rights Enforcement by the Organising Secretary of the Edo State Chapter of the beleaguered Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor, against the Edo State Government, IGP, DSS, Governor, and the Attorney General of Edo State.
Mr. Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor had sued the Edo State Government, Governor, and Attorney General of Edo State, along with two others, for breach of his fundamental rights to liberty, expression, and fair hearing. This followed a letter written to him by the Edo State former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Samson R. Osagie, on the 8th of June, 2025, demanding that Mr. Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor retract his malicious publication against the Governor and Commissioners in the Government of Edo State.
He also accused the Inspector General of Police and the State Security Services of sending him an invitation to make clarifications on certain libelous publications made by him, including accusing the Edo State Governor of purchasing the judgments of courts that validated the Governor’s election.
The suit, taken out on his behalf by Osazee Oluwole-Uzzi Esq (also a former Attorney General of Edo State), had Dr. Samson R. Osagie representing the Governor, Attorney General of Edo State, and the Edo State Government.
In the judgment, the court held that the letter written to the Applicant (Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor) by the Former Attorney General of Edo State on behalf of the Governor and Edo State Government, and the invitation extended to him by the State Security Service, did not constitute an infringement of his fundamental rights.
The court held that Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor, as a citizen of Nigeria, is bound to honor invitations sent to him by security agencies, whose duty is not only to prosecute criminals but also to prevent the breakdown of law and order. As such, the Applicant did not prove with sufficient facts that his rights were being breached or likely to be breached by the actions of the respondents, which he has complained about.
In his argument before the Court at the hearing, Counsel to the Edo State Government, the Governor, and Attorney General of Edo State, Dr. Samson R. Osagie, canvassed the point that the Applicant’s rights to freedom of expression do not extend to making false publications against the Governor and functionaries of the Edo State Government, while his Counsel argued that the comments credited to the Applicant were not criminal in nature but made in exercise of his right to freedom of speech.
Consequently, the court dismissed the suit for lacking merit and made no order as to costs.