Court Rejects Ex-President Obasanjo’s Request To Relist N1billion Defamation Suit Against Punch Newspaper, Columnist

Court Rejects Ex-President Obasanjo’s Request To Relist N1billion Defamation Suit Against Punch Newspaper, Columnis

365NEWS gathered that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja, has declined an application filed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to relist an earlier struck-out N1billion defamation suit against Punch newspaper and a columnist.

The application was considered to lack merit in a ruling on February 21 by the sitting judge, Modupe Osho-Adebiyi.

A certified true copy of the decision which was obtained by SaharaReporters shortly after it was issued on Tuesday stated that there was nothing more to the case that was removed without the consent of Obasanjo.

The judge, Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi, said, “I see nothing before this Court of the said misrepresentation as there is nothing from the Claimant himself to show that he did not instruct the Counsel to file the said notice of discontinuance.

“As rightly submitted by the defendants’ counsel there is nothing before this court to show that the notice of discontinuance was done without the consent of either the claimant or the principal in chambers.

“The law is that a client is bound by any decision taken by his counsel in a case, having filed the said notice of discontinuance, it is bound to be the act of the claimant and this court having dismissed the same on the instruction of claimant’s counsel will therefore not exercise its discretion in favour of the Applicant.

“This court is not a playground and lawyers should approach their cases with professionalism and respect for the judicial process.

“A party cannot be permitted to toy with the Court’s procedures based on his mood, regardless of the obvious, clear, and unequivocal provisions of the law that he intended to apply. The party must drown or swim with what he has voluntarily activated.

“Consequently, this Court would decline to exercise its discretion to relist the Claimant’s case and the same remains dismissed.”

Recall that the judge had dismissed the N1billion defamation suit on 19 October 2023 after a lawyer in Obasanjo’s legal team voluntarily applied to withdraw it.

According to the court records, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, represented Punch newspaper while human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, represented Mr. Sonala Olumense in the suit.

Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory High Court has awarded the sum of N4 million against former President Olusegun Obasanjo and its columnist, Sonala Olumhense.

Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi awarded the sum of N2 million to both defendants as the cost of the action.

Recall that the former President filed a lawsuit against Punch Newspaper and the columnist for alleged defamation regarding a January 27, 2019 post.

Obasanjo, through his lawyer Kanu Agabi, sought N1 billion in damages from the newspaper and the columnist, describing the article as “false, malicious, unjustified, injurious, scornful, distasteful, and unsavoury”.

Obasanjo said the article exposed him to “public odium, ridicule and disdain.”

The article accused Obasanjo of wasting public funds.

A copy of the ruling obtained by Daily Trust on Saturday showed that the award followed the application by Obasanjo’s counsel, Emmanuel Bisong Otinyia Esq for the discontinuance of the matter and for it to be struck out.

Following the application by Obasanjo’s lawyer to discontinue the case, counsel for the newspaper and the columnist, R.O. Adakole and Sam Ogala Esq respectively demanded the payment of N3 million as cost for travels from outside court jurisdiction and filing of processes.

The judge ruled that “both counsel have sought a cost of N3 million only each” but awarded the “sum of N2 million only each to the 1st and 2nd defendants as cost of this action”.

In the article, Olumhense wrote: “Obasanjo was no anti-corruption champion either, although nobody harangues corruption better than he.

“Yes, he launched the EFCC and ICPC, but they fought only the fights he allowed them to and wrote the reports he wanted.

His real motivation was the largely retaliatory drive to recover the so-called (Sani) Abacha loot against the man who had thrown him behind bars. At the end, he could not account for the billions of dollars recovered.

“So abominable was Obasanjo’s performance on electricity that he lavished at least $10 billion he could not justify. The House of Representatives said Obasanjo often paid money to companies that had not cleared space for the projects.

“In an article in December 2006, I demonstrated that he spent close to N1 trillion on roads. In December 2013, using one of those roads, I explored how the practice of persistent parallel spending keeps the money flowing but not project delivery.”