ATIKU SLAMS N2.5BN LIBEL SUIT AGAINST LAURETTA ONOCHIE
Former vice-president and the
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 presidential
election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has slammed an aide to President Muhammadu
Buhari on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, with a whooping N2.5 billion
defamation suit.
The court action was necessitated by the refusal of Onochie to retract the said
malicious publication in her tweeter handle on May 7, this year.
The suit marked CV/2287/19 and
filed in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, is among
others seeking a declaration by the court that the publications made by Onochie
via her social media accounts on May 7 and May 20, 2019, “are utterly false,
baseless, unfounded and defamatory of the claimant, and injurious to his reputation”.
Consequently, Atiku is seeking an
order of court compelling the defendant to make a retraction of, and an apology
to him “for the said offensive twitter and facebook publications on the same
platforms, also to be published in three national newspapers with wide
circulation within the country and also broadcast on AIT, Channels and NTA
television stations”.
He also sought an order
compelling her to write to him, “a letter of unreserved apology for the said
offensive twitter and facebook publications”.
The claimant also sought an order
of perpetual injunction restraining her whether by herself, her servants,
agents, privies, assigns, friends and/or representatives, or otherwise
howsoever, from further posting such “offensive and libelous material or any
other form of defamatory statements against his person”.
He asked for an order directing
the defendant to pay him “the sum of N2,500,000,000,000 “representing general,
aggravated, punitive and exemplary damages over the untold embarrassment,
derision, public ridicule, odium, obloquy, marital disharmony, mental agony and
psychological trauma which the defendant’s publications have caused the
claimant”.
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