The “Libelous” Publications Of Mr Francis Van Lare: Taking Legal Steps!

A seventy-year-old Nigerian man has been on the lips of bloggers and netizens for the past one week now. The man by the name “Francis Van Lare” in celebration of his seventieth birthday published on his Facebook wall the names of all the women he alleged to have had sex with since he started engaging in sexual activities from the 1960s. 

Some of the names he published looked familiar because he didn’t just publish first names, he published both the first and last names of the persons. 

Some persons who claimed they are the bearers of the names he published are threatening to sue him for libelous defamation but this is why the suit for libel from some of the women against Mr Francis Van Lare may likely not succeed in the court of law. 

What then is libel? Libel is a “published” “false statement” that is “damaging” to a person’s reputation. Once it is a written or published defamation it becomes a libel but it is merely spoken or verbal, it is slander. 

For a suit of libel to succeed in court it must be; 

1. Published 
2. It must be a false statement 
3. It must be damaging to one’s reputation or defamatory 
4. It must not just be a mere opinion expressed as an opinion. 
5. It must be specifically addressed to a particular person or group of persons

This is to say that for a claimant suit to succeed, the statement must be written or published, the statement must be seen to be damaging to the claimant’s reputation, the statement must be false and it must not be an opinion and it must be addressed to or about a specific person and not a generalized statement. 

For instance, if I post or publish that Mr John Doe is a thief, for Mr John Doe to successfully bring a suit for libel against me, there must not be any evidence or proof showing that Mr John Doe have stolen before or that he is truly a thief; if my statement of him being a thief is true then he cannot succeed in an action for Libel against me because my statement is not false. Again, if I post on my wall a generalized statement that I have slept with Mrs Jane Doe, anybody or everybody bearing the name “Jane Doe”, cannot bring up an action against me because I did not specify the Jane Doe I’m talking about even though my statement could be false and defamatory to every Jane Doe out there. 

Back to the Facebook publication of Mr Francis Van Lare; As already highlighted that one of the core ingredients of libel or slander is that the defamatory statement must be addressed to a particular individual. If Mr Francis Van Lare published on his wall that he has slept with Mrs Jane Doe, and one Mrs. Jane Doe decides to sue Mr Francis Van Lare for libel, Mr Francis Van Lare’s defense could be that he never referred to that particular Mrs Jane Doe as there are a lot of persons bearing Mrs Jane Doe. So a claimant must show that the libel was addressed to him or her specifically. 

So most of the ladies threatening to sue may not succeed in the libel claim because it will be difficult for them to show in court that the is truly theirs and not any other person out there because those names, although common and popular names are not exclusive to anybody but the case will be different if after publishing the names of the ladies and he went further to add other personal details to specify the ladies he is referring to.

Libel is both a civil wrong and a crime in Nigeria. If convicted, it is punishable with a 1-2 years jail term as provided in section 375 of the criminal code act