Facts:

The Claimant, a prominent legal practitioner, sued CRC Credit Bureau Ltd (the 1st Defendant) and Eco Bank Nigeria Ltd (the 2nd Defendant) for defamation, specifically libel. The Claimant had applied for a Master Credit Card with Standard Chartered Bank, but his application was denied after the bank relied on the information stored in the 1st Defendant’s database.

The Claimant alleged that the 2nd Defendant had provided his financial report to the 1st Defendant, falsely stating that he was indebted to them, which resulted in a negative credit report. In response, the 2nd Defendant claimed that the Claimant had incurred a debt in 2006 after using his Mastercard credit card but had failed to repay it. The debt, initially in USD, was redenominated into Naira in 2016 due to regulatory changes. The 2nd Defendant provided this information to CRC Credit Bureau, as required by law, and it was stored in their database. The Claimant contended that he was unaware of any debt owed to the 2nd Defendant, as he had never received any notification regarding such a debt.