Blogger To Pay MFM’s Olukoya £100,000 After Losing Defamation Appeal

A United Kingdom High Court of Appeal has upheld earlier rulings against UK-based blogger Maureen Badejo, ordering her to pay £100,000 in damages to the founder of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), Daniel Olukoya, and his wife, Folashade, after losing a defamation suit.

In April 2021, the Queen’s Bench Division of the UK High Court of Justice ordered Ms Badejo to pay £65,000 to Olukoya and £35,000 to his wife over defamatory publications made on her social media platforms.

The court also directed her to publicly retract the defamatory statements and publish a summary of the judgment on her social media platforms for a period of 10 consecutive days as a corrective measure and as a means of ensuring that her “misguided and misinformed audience” gets to know about the court’s Decision.

Ms Badejo, the proprietor of Gio TV, was accused of using Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to blackmail Dr Olukoya and the church. She had alleged that the cleric and his ministry defrauded the United States Government by selling books in the country without paying due taxes.

She also claimed that an MFM pastor in the UK paid £150,000 into Olukoya’s personal account and later travelled to Nigeria to seek assistance in covering up fraud.

Delivering judgment in the appeal, Justice Lavender of the UK High Court of Appeal, Queen’s Bench Division, affirmed the earlier decisions in suit number QB-2020-003625.

The judge upheld the orders made by Master Thormett on April 13, 2021, and February 3, 2022, and dismissed Ms Badejo’s appeal in its entirety.

Justice Lavender ruled that the online publications concerning Dr Olukoya and his wife were false and defamatory, noting that the allegations lacked any factual basis.

He further refused Ms Badejo permission to appeal, holding that her application failed to meet the required legal threshold.

He stated that the application lacked merit and that, under CPR 52.4(3), the decision could not be reconsidered at an oral hearing.
“Insofar as the defendant seeks permission to appeal against Master Thormett’s order of 3 February 2022, her proposed grounds of appeal are both hopeless and pointless,” the court held.

The court stressed that individuals are entitled to protection against defamatory publications and warned that false accusations circulated online attract legal consequences. It added that freedom of expression does not extend to publishing false statements capable of damaging reputations.

Meanwhile, on February 9, 2021, an Ogun State High Court in Nigeria also ruled against Ms Badejo, ordering her to pay N500m in damages to MFM and its General Overseer for defamation.

The Nigerian suit, filed in September 2020, sought N10Bn in aggravated and exemplary damages. While delivering judgment, Justice Abiodun Akinyemi ordered the blogger to remove and delete the offending online publications and to issue a written apology and retraction on her social media platforms and in at least three national newspapers.

The judge described her actions as “reckless defamation” and an “evil use of the internet and social media.”