Tunde Oyesina 
The founder of PRNigeria, Malam Yushau A. Shuaib, has dragged the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State before a Federal High Court in Abuja, challenging his withdrawal from the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 47 of the Institute.
In the suit marked FHC/ ABJ/CS/1329/2025, Shuaib, a renowned public relations expert, is demanding N1 billion in general, special, and aggravated damages against NIPSS over alleged emotional trauma and reputational damage.
He is also seeking an additional N100 million as litigation costs, having issued a pre-action notice on June 16, 2025, to the Institute’s Director General, Professor Ayo Omotayo, which was allegedly ignored by the management.
The case, filed on his behalf by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Yunus Abdulsalam, seeks a court order setting aside his withdrawal from SEC 47 and reinstating him with full rights, benefits, and privileges.
Shuaib is also asking for a perpetual injunction restraining NIPSS, its agents, or officials from further harassment, intimidation, or cyberbullying.
In his originating summons, the plaintiff raised eight issues for determination. He argued that the publication of a news article by PRNigeria, an independent media organisation, cannot lawfully be attributed to him as misconduct when he neither authored nor endorsed it.
He also questioned whether NIPSS’s alleged access and use of his private email without consent violated his constitutional right to privacy under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution. Shuaib further contended that disciplinary action against him for professional opinions expressed in a published article breached his right to freedom of expression guaranteed by Section 39(1).
He argued that barring participants from interacting with him and removing him from official platforms amounted to harassment, cyberbullying, and forced isolation. He maintained that denying him participation in the international study tour, despite his full payment of ₦18.3 million course fees, constituted discrimination and breach of contract.
He also faulted his suspension and withdrawal from the course based on alleged “externalisation of the subject” without a fair hearing, describing it as a violation of his constitutional right under Section 36(1). Shuaib is therefore seeking declarations that the actions of NIPSS were unlawful, unjustifiable, discriminatory, and unsupported by any regulation guiding the institute.
