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David Hundeyin, a controversial self-proclaimed investigative journalist, has been ordered by the Royal Courts of Justice, a British court, to pay the sum of £95,000 as damages to Charles Northcott, the British Broadcasting Corporations (BBC) Journalist, for libel.
In a 2022 article titled 'Journalism Career Graveyard,' Hundeyin levelled several damning allegations against Northcott, including an accusation that he used his position as the director of a documentary film to obtain sexual favours from Kiki Mordi, a Nigerian Emmy-nominated journalist.
Mordi was the on-screen reporter for the viral BBC’s 'Sex for Grades' documentary.
In the document shared online, the court held that Hundeyin's publication had seriously impacted Northcott both professionally and personally, thereby awarding £95,000 (approximately N201 million) damages against the Nigerian journalist, who is on voluntary exile in Ghana.
I accept C’s evidence that D’s libel has had a very serious impact on him both professionally and personally and caused him serious harm and distress. His witness statement adopts and develops the particulars of harm pleaded in the PoC, and I accept both in their entirety.
“The court awards C £95,000 damages, including aggravated damages. This is an appropriate sum to compensate C for the damage to his reputation caused by D and to vindicate his good name; and it takes appropriate account of the distress, hurt and humiliation which D’s false and defamatory publication has caused him, as well as D’s aggravating conduct,” the court’s document read in part.
The judgement, passed on October 8, 2024, also ordered the website to remove the relevant part of Hundeyin's article, which it found offensive.
Ms Wilson represented the complainant, while Hundeyin was neither present nor represented in court. The court noted that it passed judgment in Hundeyin’s absence.
What's the backstory?
In 2019, Mordi, a freelance journalist, collaborated with a team from the BBC to produce a 54-minute documentary, which exposed the pervasive sexual exploitation by lecturers who preyed on vulnerable female students.
The victims ranged from those facing academic challenges, seeking admission, or in need of mentorship as lecturers were caught on tape demanding sexual favours in exchange for benefits.
Mordi worked alongside Norcott and other journalists on the project.
However, three years after its release, Hundeyin penned the said article, wherein he accused the BBC journalist of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with Mordi and hence favoured the latter to work on the documentary while sidelining and deceiving Oge Obi, whom Hundeyin claimed was the brain behind the BBC documentary.
The Ghana-based journalist sent Twitter (now X) into overdrive after sharing the exposé on his account. The article, associated hashtags, and posts attracted a deluge of reactions.
According to Northcott, the post received more than 40 million online impressions between September 27 and October 31, 2022.
I worked with a colleague to run an analysis of the defamatory Article, and its associated hashtags and tweets by Mr Hundeyin, to see how far it had spread between 27 September and 31 October 2022. This analysis suggested the content had received more than 40 million online impressions during this period (which are calculated by tracking the total number of times the content was displayed across Twitter on users’ feeds and on search results).
"A large percentage of these would have been abroad, but a very significant proportion of Mr Hundeyin’s followers are in England and Wales. He was educated here, has been invited to speak publicly here … and he’s launched two books here – which are sold in British bookstores,” the Briton's statement read.
Subsequently, Hundeyin made several posts on X, tagging Mordi's handle and daring her and others who had issues with the publication to sue him.
"Then why don’t you sue me for categorically stating that you had sex multiple times with @CNorthcott1 in the course of producing that documentary and that this formed the sole basis of your fraudulent “career”?…,” Hundeyin’s post on October 1, 2022, read in part.
Another of his posts read, “As for the people who are constantly threatening ‘legal steps’ because my stories have exposed their true nature to their international donors, NGOs and state actors, here is @WestAfricaWeek’s address. If you don’t sue me, you are all bastards. I double dare you…”
The controversial journalist also shared a video of Northcott and Mordi climbing onto the base of a statue in Trafalgar Square with the caption: “Hi @kikimordi. I’m sure you never thought this video of you and @CNorthcott1 would ever surface, but that is why real journalism will never die when people like me are around. Your ‘career’ is over, you glory-hunting, honey-trapping fraud!’"
The British journalist later sued for libel, claiming that Hundeyin’s action impacted his career and caused him damages. The court ordered the journalist to take down the article, but the order was ignored.
In its judgement, the court stressed that the video showed nothing to corroborate the Defendant’s allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship, adding that Hundeyin's behaviour post-publication comfortably fell within the principles of aggravated damages and trolling, which caused Mordi and Northcott distress.
“All of D’s behaviour post-publication comfortably falls within the principles in relation to aggravated damages that I outlined earlier. D, having seriously libelled C, then embarked upon a campaign of trolling and persecution in a manner calculated to cause C and Ms Mordi maximum distress and damage. Moreover, he has failed to take down the Article as ordered by this court in July,” the court document further read.