Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works and Housing has instituted a N2 billion defamation suit against Leno Adesanya the Chief Executive Officer of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd at the FCT high court over allegedly false and disparaging publication against him.
Mr Fashola alleged that Mr Adesanya and two national dailies accused him of frustrating the completion of the Mambilla power project and engaging in acts of corruption in relation to the project as Minister of Power, Works and Housing.
The minister claimed Mr Adesanya sponsored the defamatory publication of The Guardian and ThisDay newspapers of January 11 and January 16, 2019, respectively on the Mambila project to assassinate his character with the view of achieving damaging effects against him.
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What happened in court
When the matter was called in court on Tuesday, Mr Charles Edosomwan (SAN), Mr Fasholas lawyer, told the court that only The Guardian Newspaper had filed a response in the case.
Justice Sylvester Oriji noted that the first and third defendants were still within the required seven days to file their responses. He then adjourned the matter to December 6, for hearing.
The minister in his statement of claim averred that the said publication portrayed him as a greedy, thieving political manipulator, who is not worthy of his office as a minister or any other public office.
He, therefore, sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants and their agents from further publishing offensive materials or any other materials relating to him. He also sought the court to order the defendants to publish retractions of the damaging publications.
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In his submissions, the minister noted that the publication titled “Mambilla Power Project: Open letter to Mr Babatunde Fasola” portrayed him as a dishonest and disloyal political operative.
According to him, none of the allegations made against him in the publications was true.
He said the publication portrayed him as “a dirty politician who would take beneficial steps in governance only when it is for his personal advantage even at the risk of causing his country great harm.”
“The defendants published the disparaging and defamatory material with the main purpose of destroying the claimant’s credit and reputation by publishing invented untrue and malicious falsehood about him,’’ the statement reads in part.
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The relief sought by Fashola
Fashola said he had suffered embarrassment and humiliation, among others as a result of the false publications and wants the court to award N2 billion damages against the defendants.
The minister also wants an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants and their agents from further publishing the offending materials or any other materials relating to the claimant as well as order the defendants to publish retractions of the damaging publications.
He also sought an order compelling the defendants to offer him “properly worded unreserved apology for the libellous advertorials’’.
