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1 Recently, a popular Nigerian music artiste, Mr. David Adeleke, better known by his stage name, Davido, was accused

by two sisters of impregnating one of them in a 4 minute 36 second video first released on instablog9ja, a self-styled

news and media Instagram handle which boasts of more than 2.5 million followers. The video attracted huge attention

(with more than 600,000 views on instablog9ja alone) and generated a lot of debate particularly as it came barely three

days after the birth of David Adedeji Ifeanyi Adeleke Jnr., Davido’s first son and first child with his fiancé, Chioma. After

Davido threatened to sue the ladies for defamation and pledged ₦1,000,000.00 (One Million Naira) to anyone who could

provide information on their whereabouts, the two sisters released a video the following day suggesting that the

accusation was only a prank.

2 See section 36(12) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended); Aoko v Fagbemi (1961) 1 All NLR 400. 3 See the first paragraph of section 24 of the Criminal Code.

4 Ibid.

5 See Iduwe v State (2014) LPELR-23798.

6 See Nwaoboshi & Ors v FRN (2018) LPELR-45107(CA).

7 P.H. Winfield, A Textbook of the Law of Tort, (5th Ed Sweet & Maxwell 1950) 242. 8 See Nirchandani v Pinheiro (2001) FWLR (Pt. 48) 1307 @ 1326 paras. E-F.

9 See Chalmers v Payne (1835) 2 Cr M.R. 156; (1835) 150 ER 67. Also see Sir Hon. Justice Biobele A. Georgewill, The Right to a Good Name: Law of Defamation Simplified (Convince Concepts 2011) 68.