http://www.naaija.com/suing-sahara-reporters-defamation-let-answer-question/
Sahara Reporters (SR) is operating from the United States and has no assets in Nigeria. So, any suit against Sahara Reporters must have to be filed in the United States in order for such suit to be effective.

SR, has carefully evaded lawsuits in the following ways:

(1) Initially, it had no visible legal connection between the publisher (Omoyele Sowore) and the website (Saharareporters.com). And you cannot just sue a website. You have to sue either the owner of the website if an individual or the company that runs it, if it is registered as a business entity.

(2) Sowore did not register SR. Instead it was just a domain name. He hid the address and ownership of SR by registering it throw a company known as Domain-by-Proxy (DBP). All those who attempted then to sue SR would end up with the address of DBP and DBP would refuse to give you the address of Sowore because that was the deal.

(3) Many Nigerians had in 2007 and 2008 tried to hire my firm to sue SR on their behalf for defamation. Indeed, in 2008, Timi Alaibe, preliminarily engaged me to sue SR for defamation. As I was working on that case, SR attacked me by publishing some nasty falsehood against me in March of 2009. That scared the hell out of Alaibe. Alaibe felt that if SR could attack the lawyer so boldly, he might just as well pay money to SR and buy it off. That was what Alaibe did. He paid SR huge money to leave him alone.

(4) But I now shifted the case from suing for Alaibe to suing for myself. When I contacted Domain by Proxy (DBP) demanding information on the address of Sowore, DBP refused. I then had to sue DPA. When I sued them, they understood that this was serious. They made a deal with me to give me all the information of Sowore and to kick SR out of their customers list in order that I drop their name from the suit. I agreed. I got all the names and address of Sowore. For the first time, there was a clear legal connection between a real human being and SR.

(5) When I sued SR, Sowore cried to one of the leading law firms in Washington that Nigerian Government had hired its lawyer, Emeka Ugwuonye, to crush SR. That was how Baker and Hostesteler law firm agreed to represent free of charge Sowore (the mall man) against Nigerian Government and its lawyer. But this was just another lie by SR. Nigerian Government did not hire me against Sowore, Nigerian Government never had a clear idea on what to do to Sowore or SR.

(6) As the lawsuit I filed against Sowore/ SR was going on, a number pf people were conspiring against me, including particularly the Ambassador of Nigeria to Washington. But there were more people. Sowore tapped into that state of affair by using his blackmailing power to promise the Ambassador that SR would not criticize him while in office in Washington. What you have to realize is that many Nigerians were willing to pay money or favor to SR in order for it not to attack them. So, an Ambassador was willing to please SR by escalating the dispute between the Embassy and my firm.

(7) When the Ambassador and Farida Waziri of the EFCC conspired to arrest me in Nigeria and had me arrested, the EFCC through its then spokesman, Femi Babafemi, was working directly with SR.That was how SR was able to publish every rumors and gossips about my detention and about what the EFCC was planning in my case even before some EFCC officers knew what was happening. Sr asked Femi Babafemi to have my pictures taken in court hours for the benefit of SR’s publications against me.

( My arrest and detention by the EFCC while my case against SR was pending created a tremendous opportunity for SR and EFCC in the areas where they had common interests. SR had been a pain in the neck of the EFCC, and Farida Waziri had been pressuring Femi Babafemi to find a solution to SR’s attack. My detention by the EFCC would help SR to win the case I filed against it because I would be in detention in Nigeria and unable to prosecute the case, meaning that the case would be thrown out based on my absence. Also, by detaining me in Nigeria and falsely accusing me of stealing, it would become easy for SR to argue in court that it did not really defame me, that I was a criminal, after all I was arrested in Nigeria. So, they would either block me from coming back to pursue the case or they would cook the facts after the facts so they would win in court.

(9) SR and Femi Babafemi struck a deal. SR would desist from ever reporting negatively against the EFCC and the EFCC would use my detention and indictment to help SR. It happened that way. That was why my detention lasted initially for as long as 3 months. And after I returned and resurrected the case against SR, I was detained agains in Nigeria for another 2 months, just to frustrate the case I filed against SR. All these detentions were part of the deal between the EFCC and SR. In return, SR has never published anything negative about the EFCC till daddy. In fact SR is now EFCC news bulletin. The deal is still working. Go and check between February 2010 and February 2011. You would see so many SR publications against EFCC and Farida Waziri. But when you check from February 2011 till date, there is no single negative publication. Even the firing of Mrs. Farida Waziri for corruption was not published in SR. That was the deal on Emeka Ugwuonye’s head.

(10) I was sacrificed in the deal. You would then have Okey Ndibe, an employee of SR, go public to celebrate that I lost my case against SR, as if I could have won the case from detention.

(11) The main reason it is difficult to sue SR in America is that in America, the laws governing defamation are so favorably disposed toward the defendant. American law allows people to publish lies if the the person defamed is a public figure. The America courts declared me a public figure and reasoned that SR was within the margin where it could publish false stories about me because I was a public figure and that SR did not reach the margin of “actual malice”. It was clear that SR published untrue stories about me. It was also clear that Sowore had malice, but that it did not reach the level of malice known as “actual malice” that would apply to public figures like me.

(12) The funny irony was that as the American courts were telling me that I was such a public figure and that SR was such an insignificant little player that I should ignore, SR was boasting to all Nigerians that I was floored and disgraced in court. In court SR would play the victim and the court thought I was such a big shot. Yet, SR goes to the ignorant Nigerian masses and claims that I was such a despicable and useless lawyer that didn’t know my right from my left. Such bizarre claims where repeated by the like soy Ndibe and Kaananyo Nwachukwu and Adanma Okpara, and their moments of desperation.

(13) As I have advised many Nigerian officials, suing SR in America would remain an uphill task until he attacks somebody based in America and who could access the American courts. But you have to understand that the same Nigerian officials who are screaming against SR today would be willing to make a deal with it even if it involves arresting you in Nigeria. The illogicality and inconsistencies of the Nigerian Government in its action toward SR is so childish. Even President Jonathan who has complained about lies by SR against his person would have you arrested tomorrow in Abuja just to stop SR from publishing more lies against him. They are upset with SR. But at the same time, they are captured like captives in the hands of a kidnapper. So, bear with me when I tell you that Jonathan and the rest are just confused bunch of people. Otherwise, how come that the the Government go Jonathan are joined with SR in the ongoing fight between me and them? SR is their partner. So, sometimes, I think they should just shut up and keep quiet. Even this same Oduah would hurt you tomorrow, just to prevent SR from publishing more dirt against her. In fact, I defended Oduah in these matters as a matter of principal. Otherwise, i would have been laughing my head off to see SR turn against his partners, Nigerian Government. Indeed, the Nigerian Ambassador to Washington is a very close and personal friend of SR publisher. They probably even plot together how to attack Oduah.

(14) The problem you also understand its that the same Nigerian officials who complain against SR, are the ones using SR against themselves. When the wife of one Minister wants to scandalize the wife of another Minister, she would cook up documents and give to SR and pay SR to publish a damning story. So, SR has quite some blackmail hold on some of them. SR can use it at any time to blackmail the officials at will. They are really weak and capable of resisting. And really most of them have skeleton in their cupboard and would not survive discovery if ever they choose to sue in America.

(15) SR carefully focuses on attacking people in Nigeria, knowing that most of them cannot come to sue in America. And indeed, it is difficult to access the American justice from Nigeria.

Emeka Ugwuonye‎

Cc

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