In suit no B/556/2011 Justice EfeIkponmwonba ruled against Dockland
Communications Limited,publishers of News of the People magazine,
for failing to prove the veracity of the
libelous publication on Adams Oshiomole,
Governor of Edo State, which was carried
on the front page and at page 19, of their magazine in 2011,with the headline,
“Oshiomhole’s sex power exposed: Impregnates young girl six months after death
of wife”.
The Governor had taken
Dockland Communications Limited, publishers of News of the People to court
after failing to retract the said story and meet the conditions of apologizing
to him as contained in a letter to them by his lawyers, Ken Mozia and
Associates.
Oshiomhole who asked the court to award him N250 million in
damages maintained that the defendant, among other things, falsely wrote that
he bought a jeep for the said girl whom he was alleged to have impregnated
and that he was interfering in the academic activities of Ambrose Alli
University, Ekpoma, on behalf of the girl; that he used sexual performance
enhancement drugs and that he had performed traditional marriage rites precedent
to a marriage between him and the said girl.
The Governor had under
cross-examination said “I am a public officer, and as you have rightly pointed
out as a Governor, what I do or fail to do is important. My character is
important and people’s opinion of my personal life is important. My children
are still in agony. The magazine published this just a few months
after my wife passed away and this publication coincided with my daughter’s
wedding. A Governor whom I invited for the wedding asked me if I was the one
going to wed or my daughter. Your image as a public officer is very important.’’
He said: “after this publication, I had very serious family
crisis because my children were still in grief over the death of their mother.”.
Reacting to the judgment,
Counsel to Governor Oshiomhole, Barrister Femi Owootori said “we as solicitors to the governor wrote a
letter to the company asking for a retraction of the publication. But the
newspaper stuck to its gun and refused to retract the publication. So we gave
the necessary notice and took legal action to sue for libel and the case has
been on. We closed our case rather than come in for defence, the defendants
said they were resting their case on the claimants case which is a strategy
suggesting that the claimant had made no case. But unfortunately for them when
the judgment was being delivered it was exhaustively analysed.
“Even though our claim was for N250 million,
considering the status of the person against whom the publication was made, the
court awarded N25million and N10,000 cost because the court found as a fact the
publication was a tissue of lies”
He urged journalists to cross-check their facts before
publication.
No comments:
Post a Comment