The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) and its chairman, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, have demanded a retraction and public apology from Dr. Reuben Abati, a columnist, over a libelous publication and statements credited to him in respect of the character and reputation of the duo.

This is as the anti-corruption campaigner and civil society organization has threatened to commence legal action through a suitable dispute resolution method if the columnist failed to retract the said publication and tender an unreserved apology.

In a letter referred to Abati and dated October 4, 2021, HEDA and Suraju through their solicitors, M. A. BANIRE & ASSOCIATES and signed by Oluwaseye Afolabi from the Law Chamber, said statements made in the publication were not only utterly false but were also inimical to the reputation and integrity of our Clients and quite damaging to their integrity.

Recalled that Abati on Tuesday, the 21st day of September, 2021, wrote a column titled: ‘CSOs, NGOs and their discontents,’ exploring developments around the OPL 245 scandal to critique civil society organisations in Nigeria especially HEDA and its chairman, Suraju.

The letter to Abati read in part: “We are solicitors to Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju and HEDA Resource Centre (hereinafter referred to as “our Clients”), and it is on their instruction that we write you this letter.

“As you are already aware, our Clients are an anti-corruption campaigner and civil society organization which core mandates are promoting transparency in governance, demanding government and societal accountability as well as fighting corruption in all its forms. Our clients are globally known for their carefully built high moral standing, vibrancy, integrity and transparency with several accomplishments both locally and internationally.

The Law firm said that their clients informed it that in the said publication of Tuesday, September 21, 2021, particularly at paragraph 10 of an opinion credited to Abati emphatically described thier clients as follows:

“To worsen matters, we are told that Olanrewaju Suraj’s Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) is “an unregistered organisation.”

The lawyers also cited that similarly, at paragraph 11 of the said publication, Abati stated against their clients as follows:

“As for HEDA and Suraj, Mohammed Bello Adoke was maligned. His reputation was dragged in the mud of social media. Although the Italian Court threw out the entire Malabu/ENI trial, Bello Adoke, who was not on trial in Italy, was continuously maligned by HEDA, trying to influence the Nigerian Courts. Our people believe the worst about anyone who ever served in government. NGOs are supposed to be change agents not tools for untruths and blackmail.”

The lawyers claimed that the “above statements were not only utterly false but were also inimical to the reputation and integrity of our Clients and quite damaging to their integrity;” adding, “our Clients became aware of your publication through a barrage of calls and messages from partners, friends, well-wishers and others who called in to verify the veracity of your publication.”

The HEDA and Suraju solicitors further claimed that all efforts to convince the populace that nothing could be farther from the truth achieved little; as “upon visiting your website, our clients saw your false publication that the organization, which was registered since 2004, is an unregistered organization and that Mr. Suraj maligned Adoke when in fact, you knew these assertions were false”

The solicitors told Abati that his publication has caused immeasurable damage to their clients’ reputation, “now that their international and local partners are questioning the integrity of the organization and its anti-corruption work.”

They further contended that Abati’s “untrue and fabricated publication is, undoubtedly, calculated to cause severe damage to our clients’ hard-earned reputation in the eyes of the right-thinking members of society by dragging their carefully nurtured good name in the mud.”

“Upon becoming aware of your libelous publication, some of our clients’ colleagues and partners in the war against corruption and the civil society space did not mince words in informing them that they would no longer associate with them in view of the fact that your publication claimed that HEDA is not a registered organisation;

“Your publication has exposed our clients to undeserved public opprobrium, and many that have read your publication have expressed their shock that they could engage in such acts; many more have questioned them as to why they would shamelessly bring the trust and high esteem reposed in them to disrepute,” the solicitors claimed, adding, “some of them expressed their disappointment that they, particularly Mr. Olanrewaju Suraj, known as a person of sterling and enviable qualities, would descend to the abyss heinous conducts that as you stated in your publication.”

The solicitors noted further that, “Sir, you will agree with us that your statement paints our Clients as an organization and person who lack integrity and have conducted themselves beneath the standard expected of members of the civil society. There is no doubt in the fact that your publication casts a direct aspersion on our Clients. To right-thinking members of society, your publication has gravely presented our Client as a person and an organisation lacking integrity and good reputation.”