The Justice for reputation and slander

The last verbal altercation I had was about a year ago when a phone trader requested the receipt for a phone taken to him when we considered the option of swapping after the repairs. He stated that the receipt was new and the amount on the receipt was lower beyond the margin of the phone's worth as of when I claimed to have bought it. Thus, he said I was manipulative. I was furious and asked him or any of his boys to follow me to where I purchased the phone from, but he declined. That was when I reached out to the police station, and though the trader was popular in Ilorin, he knew I was out to clear my name by all means. The fact that he knew my name and where I worked by virtue of our initial cordial relationship, which only started as a result of the phone repair. I convinced myself that I needed to clear my name; else, he would state in the future to unknown persons that a doctor working at such a place had manipulated the receipt.

Eventually, he released one of his boys, who followed me to the vendor, who outrightly confirmed the receipt was issued by her, and she gets to decide how much she would sell to her customers. I felt a wave of relief, and when I returned to the man that accused me falsely, he pretended as though nothing was wrong, and rather, he was trying to play safe. I didn't give up the struggle since several scenes were already created before then. I stated that I was convinced he would not apologize even after my name was cleared, and not until I pushed further did he apologize eventually.

The incident above was just a year ago and remains fresh in my mind. But slanders could be hurting. Unlike many politicians in Nigeria who have no heart and slander one another for a living, what the average citizen has is his reputation and a good name. Slandering can be painful, and as much as I would love to take action, here's an alternative view.

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Here in Nigeria, matters trend only for a while. And give or take, two weeks or a month, other matters would come up. However, Nigerians and the social media have a habit of digging up one's past. In all of these, I would prefer to stay silent and unperturbed when I know I am being defamed or spoken ill about unjustly. Fighting often involves a lot of emotions and mental and physical stress, and like I said earlier, slanders are waves that pass with time. Peradventure I should paint it this way: you're being slandered and accused of many wrongdoings. The public would say quite a lot, especially of untrue things. The target of the slander oftentimes is to cause a reaction that would further give the slanderers an opportunity to exaggerate your every action or inaction.

The less one reacts to such slanders, if one has to at all, the better. And yes, you could sue such people and request evidence of their allegations. But bantering and exchanging words in the name of clearing oneself should not be indulged. It is like dragging oneself to the position of pigs just because you wanted to fight them.

I remember how silly and defensive we were while growing up. I could fight or cry for being called names of animals. But gradually, I let all those be. I was not near any of those slanderous names I was called. The matter often dies a natural death when you do not give it the audience or reaction they so much desire from you.