A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Abuja has overruled an objection raised by Sir Don Ubani in the ongoing N5bn defamation suit filed against him by Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.
At the resumed hearing of the case marked FCT/HC/CV/4474/2024 before Justice N.K. Nwosu-Iheme on Monday, the court admitted as evidence two documents presented by Governor Otti’s legal team despite resistance by the defence counsel.
Governor Otti is seeking redress over a September 26, 2024, publication on Ubani’s Facebook page and blog, which alleged that the governor had acquired Comfort Hotel and Maget Hotel in Umuahia, and engaged in land grabbing in Umuehim and Umuguru villages in Nvosi, Isialangwa South LGA.
The governor had denied the claims and filed the libel suit seeking N5bn in damages, an apology, and a restraining order against further defamatory publications by Ubani.
During Monday’s proceedings, Otti’s witness, Arch. Uche Uche, testified as the first prosecution witness (PW1) and adopted two depositions he made on December 14, 2024, and January 13, 2025.
He gave evidence on the offensive nature of Ubani’s posts and the negative impact on the governor’s reputation.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Sonny Ajala, who represented Governor Otti, sought to tender in evidence two additional documents through the first prosecution witness.
One was an October 6, 2024, publication by the defendant titled “No lawyer from Governor Otti has served Sir Don Ubani any notice” and a report published by THE WHISTLER on the same date, titled “Lawyer Counters Blogger’s Claim of not receiving Gov. Otti’s Libel Notice.”
However, Ubani’s lawyer, S. M. Oluebube, objected to their admissibility on the grounds that the documents had not been front-loaded as required by court rules.
Responding, Ajala argued that the documents had been duly pleaded and met the requirements of relevance and admissibility.
He urged the court to dismiss the objection and cited Order 7 Rule of the FCT High Court Rules, which states that technicalities should not be used to frustrate justice.
In a bench ruling, Justice Nwosu-Iheme agreed with the claimant and overruled the defence’s objection.
The judge proceeded to admit the documents as evidence.
The court further directed Otti’s counsel to provide a properly ordered list of the admitted documents for record-keeping and adjourned the matter to June 2, 2025, for continuation of hearing.
THE WHISTLER reported that Governor Otti had secured leave from the court to serve Ubani the court papers via email, following the blogger’s failure to respond to a formal demand for a retraction and apology.
The governor is asking the court to declare that Ubani’s publication caused reputational harm and to compel the blogger to issue a public apology in national dailies in addition to the N5bn in damages and N150m for the cost of the suit.
Court Overrules Blogger’s Objection In Gov Otti’s N5bn Libel Suit is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
Source: The Whistler