THE
National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, on Monday filed a N500m defamation suit against his
counterpart in the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh.
Mohammed claimed he was defamed by a press release said to be authored and circulated by Metuh on September 20, 2015.
The APC spokesman said Metuh had in the said release stated that he
(Mohammed) embezzled the funds meant for the fencing of an airport in
one of the APC-controlled states in the South-West.
Mohammed
also claimed that Metuh said he (Mohammed) obtained money to supply
ambulances to one APC-controlled state in the South-West but never
executed the contract.
Metuh had, in the said statement,
allegedly wondered where Mohammed got the courage to speak on corruption
when indeed the APC spokesman had mastered the art of corruption,
having been “a personal aide to one of the most corrupt politicians to
ever bestride the political space of the country.”
Mohammed,
who said he was a one-time coordinator of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign
Organisation, claimed that the statement credited to Metuh was
carefully calculated to inflict damage on his reputation and to lessen
him in the estimation of the public.
He claimed that Metuh had
injured his character in a grave manner and caused him considerable
reputational destruction and embarrassment.
The APC spokesman,
who is also a ministerial nominee, claimed that Metuh’s lawyer, Emeka
Etiaba (SAN), had in a letter dated September 25, 2015 to the claimant’s
lawyer, Wahab Shittu, admitted authoring the statement but denied that
it was Mohammed that was being referred to.
Mohammed is seeking
an order mandating Metuh to not only retract his statement but to also
tender published apology to him in a widely read newspaper for seven
consecutive days.
He is also seeking an order of perpetual
injunction restraining Metuh and his privies from further publishing or
disseminating libellous materials against him.
The suit, which was filed on Monday at the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, has yet to be assigned to any judge for hearing.
No comments:
Post a Comment