A Federal Capital Territory High Court judge,
Justice Valentine Ashi, on Wednesday ordered
security agents, including the police and
operatives of the Department of State Service, to
confiscate the latest book of ex-President
Olusegun Obasanjo, My Watch.
The judge of the FCT Wuse Zone II court said the
publication of the book, which was presented to
the public on Tuesday in Lagos, contravened the
order of the court restraining the publication.
Justice Ashi also gave Obasanjo 21 days within
which to explain why he should not be punished
for flouting the court order.
He ordered that the enrolled orders of the court be
served on all media houses in the country and be
equally served on the defendant by publication in
two national daily newspapers.
The judge held, “I hold the defendant not only in
contempt of the court, but to show cause why he
should not be punished for contempt and ordered
to undo what he has wrongly done.
“The defendant, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, shall be
given 21 days, from the day this order is served
on him, to show cause, via affidavit, why he
should not be punished for contempt committed
by publishing and distributing for sale to the
public, the book, My Watch, in plain disregard of
the pendency of substantive suit and the order of
this court made on December 5, 2014 restraining
him from doing so.
“The defendant, whether by himself, agents,
servants, privies or whatever name called, is
hereby restrained from further publication or
offering for sale or distribution, in any way or
manner, the book called My Watch or the like of
the visual or written materials which contains a
re-publication or statement extracted from the
letter referred to by the plaintiff.”
The judge had on December 5 restrained Obasanjo
from going ahead with the publication pending the
determination of the N20bn libel suit instituted
against him by a member of the Peoples
Democratic Party in Ogun State, Buruji Kashamu.
Kashamu’s lawyer, Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN), had in
his ex parte application before the court on
December 5, argued that Obasanjo should be
restrained from publishing the book since the
content related to the subject matter of the libel
suit.
The content of the book was said to be related to
a letter dated December 2, 2013 written by
Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan, in
which Kashamu was described by the former
President as a fugitive wanted for drug offences in
the United States of America.
Iziyon had argued that since part of the content
of the autobiography related to the December 2,
2013 letter, which is the subject matter of the
libel suit, it was wrong for Obasanjo to be allowed
“to proceed to comment on, write books about or
make publications on the issue yet to be decided
by the court.”
The court had after granting Kashamu’s
application and by making the restraining order
on December 5, fixed Wednesday for the
continuation of the substantive libel suit.
But Obasanjo had on Tuesday made public
presentation of the book, arguing at the venue of
the event that the book had been published before
the court was misled into making the orders.
He also said the judge ought to be punished for
making such order.
The court on Wednesday heard Iziyon and
Obasanjo’s lawyer, Realwon Okpanach, on the
plaintiff’s motion for interlocutory injunction, and
motion for order to set aside the earlier interim
orders.
In his ruling, Justice Ashi held that it was wrong
for Obasanjo to have proceeded to publish the
book despite the fact that a libel suit, which
subject matter formed part of the content of the
book, was still pending before the court.
The judge said the orders he made on December 5
were still pending.
He further held that it was immaterial that the
book was published before the interim orders
were made.
The judge said Obasanjo ought not to have
published the book because he was aware of the
part-heard libel suit relating to the letter he wrote
to President Jonathan, accusing Kashamu of
being a fugitive wanted in the USA.
“The fact that the book was published in
November is irrelevant. As long as the
substantive suit is not yet determined, no party is
entitled to publish or comment on material facts
that are yet to be decided on by the court,” the
court held.
Justice Ashi also ordered “the Inspector General
of Police, the Director General of the Department
of State Services and the Comptroller of Customs
to recover the published book from all book
stands, sales agents, vendors, the sea and
airports and deposit them with his court’s
registrar pending the determination of the
substantive suit.”
The judge rejected argument by the defendants
that the interim orders were wrongly made as the
plaintiff failed to produce the book to show that it
actually contained the alleged libellous materials.
He held, “What I find difficult to understand is
why the defendants went through the pains to
depose to the ISBN number and other details
about the book, which they said was published
since November before the interim order was
obtained on December 5, without supplying the
court with copies of the book.
“This would have served to disprove the claim by
the applicant/plaintiff that the book contains a
reproduction of the letter, which formed the
subject of the libel case before the court.
“The fact that the book was published in
November, while the substantive case was still
pending is contemptuous enough.”
The court then adjourned January 13 for further
proceedings.


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