PRNigeria drags NIPSS court over course withdrawal

Founder of PRNigeria, Yushau Shuaib, has filed a lawsuit against the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Plateau, contesting his removal from the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 47.

The suit, lodged at the Federal High Court under case number FHC/ABJ/CS/1329/2025, seeks ₦1 billion in damages for alleged emotional distress and reputational harm, alongside ₦100 million for litigation costs.

Represented by Mr. Yunus Abdulsalam, SAN, Shuaib demands reinstatement to SEC 47 with full rights and privileges, as well as a permanent injunction to prevent NIPSS, its agents, or officials from further harassment, intimidation, or cyberbullying. He claims a pre-action notice sent to NIPSS Director-General Prof. Ayo Omotayo on June 16 was ignored.

In his originating summons, Shuaib raises eight issues, including whether NIPSS’s actions violated his constitutional rights.

He argues that attributing a PRNigeria news article to him as misconduct was unlawful, stating, “The publication of a news article by PRNigeria, an independent media organisation, could not lawfully be attributed to me as misconduct when I neither authored nor endorsed it.” He also questions whether NIPSS’s alleged access to his private email breached his right to privacy under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution.

Shuaib further contends that disciplinary actions based on professional opinions in a published article violated his freedom of expression under Section 39(1). He describes NIPSS’s actions, such as barring participants from interacting with him and removing him from official platforms, as “harassment, cyberbullying, and forced isolation.” He also highlights being denied participation in an international study tour despite paying ₦18.3 million in course fees, calling it “discrimination and breach of contract.”

In a 40-paragraph affidavit, Shuaib notes his nomination by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) for SEC 47, approved by the President of Nigeria, and his compliance with NIPSS requirements, including handing over responsibilities at Image Merchants Promotion Limited, PRNigeria’s publisher. He alleges harassment and arbitrary disciplinary actions despite adhering to institute rules.

Shuaib cites two queries from NIPSS: one on March 24 regarding a PRNigeria article titled “ _NIPSS Goes Digital; Launches Paperless Platform after Submitting Landmark Report to President Tinubu,”_ which he neither wrote nor edited, and another on April 25 about an unpublished editorial, “Understanding the ‘Blue’ in the Blue Economy.” He insists these queries lacked basis under NIPSS’s Code of Conduct. Additionally, he notes that his June 2 withdrawal letter was sent only to NIPR, not directly to him.

Shuaib seeks a court declaration that NIPSS’s actions were unlawful, discriminatory, and unsupported by regulations, urging reinstatement and recognition that penalizing him for independent media content or accessing his private emails was unconstitutional.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that a hearing date for the suit is yet to be scheduled.

(NAN)