Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has pushed back strongly against reports circulating in some media outlets concerning Monday’s court session, 24 November 2025, in the Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suit filed against the organisation by the Department of State Services (DSS).
In a statement issued on Tuesday, SERAP faulted the reportage as “inaccurate” and “misleading,” insisting that accounts suggesting its deputy director “admitted to no invasion” by the DSS were entirely wrong and contrary to what happened in open court.
“For clarity, the reports that SERAP deputy director ‘admits to no invasion’ is totally incorrect,” the organisation said, stressing that it stands firmly by all its sworn statements and defence documents.
According to SERAP, the position it presented in court on Monday remains unchanged: the DSS did unlawfully raid its Lagos office on 9 September 2024.
SERAP noted that credible coverage of the day’s proceedings had already been published by leading national newspapers, including Punch and Vanguard, whose reporters were physically present in the courtroom.
The organisation also highlighted that it has been robustly represented throughout the lawsuit—describing the case as both baseless and a clear attempt to stifle public participation.
SERAP said, it was represented by a team of five senior lawyers drawn from the chambers of two prominent legal giants, Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN.
Condemning the growing use of SLAPP suits by Nigerian authorities, SERAP warned that such tactics run contrary to constitutional freedoms and the country’s international human rights commitments.
“The use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) by the Nigerian authorities against our organisation and other Nigerians peacefully expressing their human rights is antithetical to the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and the country’s international human rights obligations,” the group said.
SERAP ended on a defiant note: “These authoritarian practices WILL SURELY FAIL.”
