The Minister of State for Defense, Bello Matawalle, has filed a defamation lawsuit against two prominent northern journalists, Shu’aibu Mungadi and Tijjani Ramalan, accusing them of making malicious reports about him.
The former governor is seeking N10 billion in damages from each of the six defendants in the suit, which was filed on October 25, 2024, in the Kano State High Court.
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In addition to Mungadi and Ramalan, other defendants in the case include their employers – Vision Media Services Ltd, Vision FM, Farin Wata Television, and Liberty Radio and TV. The suit, identified as K/M2102/2024, alleges that the defendants made false claims about Matawalle’s involvement in sponsoring banditry and kidnapping in northern Nigeria, particularly in Zamfara State, during programs aired from January 2024 onward.
In a sworn affidavit supporting the motion for an interlocutory injunction, Matawalle’s personal assistant, Alhaji Masudu Abdulkadir, said the media outlets, through their programming and online platforms, falsely accused the minister of sponsoring bandits. “The plaintiff was the chief security officer and executive governor of Zamfara State for four years and worked tirelessly to tackle insecurity,” Abdulkadir stated in the affidavit.
The statement also highlighted how the broadcasts and posts were widely viewed across several northern states, including Kano, tarnishing Matawalle’s reputation and character. Abdulkadir emphasized that unless the court intervenes, the defamatory reports would continue to harm Matawalle’s reputation.
In the legal action, Matawalle seeks a court order to prevent further defamatory broadcasts, statements, or online posts about him and to compel the defendants to issue a public apology. The minister is also requesting a retraction of the damaging statements to be published in two prominent newspapers, both locally and nationally.
Furthermore, Matawalle’s legal team is pursuing a declaration from the court that the defendants’ repeated defamatory actions amount to character assassination. The court has set a hearing date for December 12, 2024.
This lawsuit follows calls from the Akida Forum, a faction within the All Progressives Congress (APC), for a thorough investigation into Matawalle’s alleged connections to bandits in the north-western states.
The group recently protested at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters, urging the agency to look into the matter. Similarly, Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal has also called for Matawalle’s resignation, claiming to have reported the minister to the National Security Adviser and President Bola Tinubu.
Matawalle has consistently denied all allegations linking him to criminal activities, including banditry, and maintains that his efforts in tackling insecurity in Zamfara were genuine.
