Ihejirika, has instituted a N100bn libel suit against
a self-styled Australian hostage negotiator,
Stephen Davies, for accusing him (Ihejirika) of
sponsoring the Boko Haram insurgent group.
Ihejirika filed the suit before a Federal Capital
Territory High Court in Abuja.
He is through his team of lawyers, comprising,
Chief Nnoruka Udechukwu (SAN), Prof. C.U.
Ilegbune, (SAN) and Ben Anechebe (SAN),
seeking N100bn as aggravated damages for
defamation.
The plaintiff’s lawyers said their client has
suffered grievous wrong and he has been exposed
to scandal, odium, ridicule, humiliation and his
character, credit and reputation brought into
disrepute, both in Nigeria and abroad.
He had obtained an order of court to serve the
process on the defendant abroad.
His lawyers have also on the strength of the court
order applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
enable them to serve Davis who lives on Perth,
Australia.
Australia and Nigeria are members of the
Commonwealth and a special procedure applies
when serving court processes on defendant.
Ihejirika is also seeking an order of perpetual
injunction restraining Davis or his agents from
further making defamatory comments about him.
He also seeks an order compelling the defendant
to publish a dull and unqualified retraction and
apology conspicuously in the front page of a
newspaper to assuage the plaintiff for the said
false malicious and libelous publication.
Ihejirika said that he retired meritoriously from the
military after a successful career and that he
served the army without blemish.
He stated, “On or about the 28th day of August
2014, the defendant granted a multimedia and
television interview broadcast to AriseTv, which
aired in Nigeria, particularly in Abuja, and
subsequently published by numerous newspapers
and media houses; wherein the defendant when
asked during the AriseNews segment of the
interview to name the sponsors of the Boko
Haram insurgency in Nigeria, falsely and
maliciously spoke of the plaintiff in the following
words, to wit:
‘There is the former Chief of Army Staff, retired
January, or actually sacked by the President he is
another sponsor. I could give you the names if
you like but I have no fear that these were very
confident and it is in fact Boko Haram senior
commanders who have been naming them.”
He said that the spoken words and publication in
their ordinary meaning were understood by
reasonable members of the society who listened
or watched the said AriseNews broadcast in
Abuja to mean that he sponsored Boko Haram, a
terrorist sect to wage war, insurrection or
insurgency against Nigeria.
He also said that the publication implied that he
did not retire but was sacked by the President
and that he had committed treason or treason
able felony.
Ihejirika said the public who listened to the
broadcast believed that he had conducted himself
in a manner tantamount to breach of his oath of
allegiance and service as a soldier and senior
officer in the Nigerian Army.
In an affidavit he deposed to, Ihejirika said he had
suffered grievous wrong and had been exposed to
scandal, odium,ridicule, humiliation and that his
character, credit and reputation brought into
disrepute, both in Nigeria and abroad. www.punchng.com/news/ihejirika-files-n100bn-libel-suit-against-australian-negotiator/