Shuaib, PR Nigeria Publisher Sues NIPSS for N1 Billion
PRNigeria’s founder, Malam Yushau A. Shuaib, has initiated legal proceedings against the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Plateau State, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, contesting his removal from the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 47 of the Institute.
In the lawsuit, designated FHC/ABJ/CS/1329/2025, Shuaib, a distinguished public relations specialist, seeks ₦1 billion in general, special, and aggravated damages from NIPSS for alleged emotional distress and damage to his reputation. He is also pursuing an additional ₦100 million to cover legal expenses, following a pre-action notice issued on June 16, 2025, to the Institute’s Director-General, Professor Ayo Omotayo, which was allegedly disregarded by the administration.
Represented by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Yunus Abdulsalam, the case prays for a court order to annul his withdrawal from SEC 47 and restore him with full entitlements and privileges.
Shuaib also requests a perpetual injunction to prevent NIPSS, its representatives, or officials from engaging in further harassment, intimidation, or cyberbullying.
In his initiating summons, the plaintiff presents eight issues for consideration, asserting that the publication of a news piece by PRNigeria, an autonomous media entity, cannot legitimately be linked to him as misconduct, given that he neither composed nor endorsed it.
He further questions whether NIPSS’s purported access and utilization of his private email without consent infringe upon his constitutional privacy rights under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution. Shuaib argues that disciplinary measures taken against him for professional views expressed in a published article violate his right to free expression as enshrined in Section 39(1).
He contends that prohibiting participants from interacting with him and removing him from official platforms constitutes harassment, cyberbullying, and enforced isolation. Shuaib maintains that excluding him from the international study tour, despite his complete payment of ₦18.3 million in course fees, represents discrimination and breach of contract.
He criticizes his suspension and withdrawal from the course, based on alleged “externalisation of the subject,” without due process, as a breach of his constitutional rights under Section 36(1).
Thus, Shuaib seeks declarations that NIPSS’s actions were unlawful, unjustifiable, discriminatory, and unsupported by any institutional regulations.
In a comprehensive 40-paragraph affidavit, Shuaib claims he was nominated by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) to represent it at the course, a nomination endorsed by the President of Nigeria. He includes his admission letter, proof of payment of ₦18.3 million, and evidence of compliance with NIPSS’s stipulations, including transitioning responsibilities at his firm, Image Merchants Promotion Limited, publishers of PRNigeria.
He alleges that despite adherence to institutional protocols, he faced harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary disciplinary measures. On March 24, he received a query concerning a PRNigeria article titled “NIPSS Goes Digital; Launches Paperless Platform after Submitting Landmark Report to President Tinubu.”
Shuaib asserts he neither wrote nor edited the article, which was widely covered by other media outlets. He further claims that on April 25, NIPSS queried him again regarding an internal email about an editorial, “Understanding the ‘Blue’ in the Blue Economy.” He states the article was a professional discourse containing no sensitive information, yet NIPSS intercepted it prior to publication.
Shuaib contends the queries were baseless and not aligned with the NIPSS Code of Conduct. He further alleges that his withdrawal letter dated June 2, 2025, was peculiarly addressed only to NIPR without official notification to himself.
The plaintiff requests the court to reinstate him into SEC 47 with full privileges, declare that NIPSS lacks the authority to penalize him for content published by an independent platform, affirm that accessing his private emails violated his constitutional rights, and deem his withdrawal unlawful, unjustifiable, and discriminatory.
Presently, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, has yet to schedule a date for the hearing.
