Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo sues Punch newspaper and columnist, Sonala Olumhense, 1 billion naira over a publication on January 27, 2019 which he claims is defamatory.
The article being referred to was titled;
See excerpts below
“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.”
Obasanjo is also complaining that Olumhense alleges that he was “heavily implicated in the Halliburton scandal with the investigations in Nigeria and the US concluding that he accepted massive bribes,” among other allegations.
As a form of legal compensation, former president, has also urged the court to declare that the article does not “constitute a valid exercise by the defendants of their freedom of speech and of expression,” this he did through his lawyer, Kanu Agabi.
The 83 year old also craves an order of perpetual injunction
Obasanjo prayed the court to issue an order directing the defendants to retract the
Human rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, is expected to represent Olumhense in court.
Posted: at | |