Attorneys disagreed on Monday over the paperwork’ admissibility in the course of the listening to of former Imo East Senator Chris Anyanwu’s N550 million defamation go well with towards former Imo State Governor Ikedi Ohakim.
The listening to got here up on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Excessive Court docket in Jabi, Abuja.
Mr Ohakim’s lawyer, Ken Njemanze, raised objections towards the admissibility of the copies of the newspaper publication and press launch tendered by Mrs Anyanwu’s claimants’ authorized crew. The contents of the doc are on the centre of the defamation case.
Ms Anyawu, 73, instituted the defamation go well with towards Mr Ohakim, demanding N550 million damages for the previous governor’s alleged defamatory remarks made about her in an interview printed by The Nation newspaper in January.
The admissibility arguments ensued after Adekunle Kosoko, one in all Mrs Anyawu’s legal professionals, offered a deposition assertion, a newspaper publication, and a press launch from NewsNaija by means of the claimant’s first witness, Joyce Ejukonemu, a researcher and gender safety specialist.
Objecting to the admissibility of the copy of the newspaper publication, Mr Njemanze stated what should be submitted was an unique type of the copy, not a photocopy.
He additionally argued that “the claimant’s witness has not produced a receipt evidencing fee for the purported certification.”
Mr Njemanze urged the court docket to reject the doc.
Nevertheless, Mr Kosoko stated the newspaper bore endorsements from the Nationwide Library and complied with the legislation. He cited Part 105 of the Proof Act and confirmed the court docket the licensed true copy of the newspaper.
The choose overruled the objection and admitted the doc.
Nevertheless, Mr Njemanze additionally opposed the admissibility of the press assertion and report from Naija Information, noting that no authorized basis was laid for the admissibility of the press launch, and that the Naija Information doc was generated electronically with no certificates of compliance.
Responding, Mr Kosoko argued that Part 84 of the Proof Act allowed for oral certification of the press launch by means of a witness assertion.
The choose fastened 1 December for ruling.
PREMIUM TIMES reported in June how the listening to was rescheduled twice in simply three days because of the absence of Mr Ohakim’s counsel.
Anyawu drops The Nation from go well with
Mrs Anyawu’s lead counsel, Umeh Kalu, knowledgeable the court docket of his consumer’s resolution to free the second defendant, Classic Press Ltd, writer of The Nation newspaper, from the go well with.
Trial choose, Mr Sani, requested the lawyer to file a correct utility to mirror the event.
The previous senator sued The Nation’s writer and dad or mum firm, Classic Press Ltd, because the second defendant.
The writer has since admitted its error and retracted Mr Ohakim’s alleged defamatory feedback made in an interview printed on 12 January.
The newspaper has since printed a retraction of the interview and an apology to Mrs Anyanwu.
Background
Mrs Anyanwu, a journalist turned politician who represented the Imo East senatorial district in Nigeria’s Senate from 2007 to 2015, filed a defamation go well with towards Mr Ohakim, following an interview the previous governor granted The Nation Newspaper, which was printed on 12 January.
Within the disputed interview, Mr Ohakim accused the ex-senator of failing to say in her guide, ‘Daring Leap,’ that she apologised to the late navy Head of State, Sani Abacha, over a coup d’etat she authored in the course of the most ruler’s regime.
Mrs Anyanwu, who was arrested in 1995 for being an “accent after the actual fact of treason,” following her reporting on a failed coup d’état towards the federal government of Sani Abacha, denied apologising to the dictator.
Mrs Anyanwu was prosecuted behind digital camera by a navy court docket and sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 July 1995. The sentence was later decreased to fifteen years in October 1995 following strain from nationwide and worldwide human rights teams. She was launched by the regime of Abubakar Abdusalami, who took workplace because the Head of State after Mr Abacha died in 1998.
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Incensed by Mr Ohakim’s remarks suggesting that she apologised to the late Abacha, Mrs Anyanwu dared the previous governor to publish the apology letter she had written to the late navy head of state.
She subsequently filed a defamation go well with searching for N550 million in damages towards Mr Ohakim over the alleged defamation within the Nation interview and a press assertion launched by the previous governor’s aide, Amanze Ajoku.
However Mr Ohakim justified his remark within the defence he filed towards the go well with. Whereas admitting making the feedback, he justified them as honest. He additionally declared his intention to publish in his forthcoming guide the apology letter Mrs Anyanwu purportedly despatched to the late navy Head of State, Mr Abacha.
However for its half, The Nation newspaper conceded making an error publishing the interview and subsequently retracted it. It notified the court docket of this growth in its submitting submitted to the court docket on 1 June.
