The national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Uche Secondus, has made good his treat by suing the minister of information and culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, to court for defamation of character.
Ike Abonyi, media aide to the PDP Chairman, revealed this in a statement on Friday.
Mohammed had mentioned Secondus in the list of those who allegedly looted the nation’s treasury, alleging that the PDP national chairman received N200 million from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki
In his reaction, Secondus had through his lawyer, Mr. Emeka Etiaba, denied collecting any money from the former NSA.
He had consequently asked the minister to immediately retract his name on the list and demanded a public apology and payment of N1.5 billion damages within 48 hours.
“We shall within 72 hours from today (March 31, 2018), proceed to a court of competent jurisdiction to ventilate our client’s right under the law and shall further seek the protection of the court against you,” Secondus’ lawyer had told Mohammed in a letter last week.
Having failed to meet the demand, Secondus made good his threat on Friday, April 6, 2018 by filing a suit at the Port Harcourt High Court in Rivers State.
According to a statement by Abonyi, the PDP national chairman has in the suit marked no/PHC/1013/2018, asked the court to award him the sum of N1.5 billion as damages for “humiliation, castigation, vilification attack on his person and integrity as a result of the publication.”
He also claimed that the list published by the minister was defamatory and urged the court to direct Mohammed to retract the said publication and apologise in writing.
He said the retraction and apology should be published in all the social media platform, five newspapers and two television stations.
“Secondus is also asking the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from further publishing defamatory materials against him,” the statement added.
Joined in the suit are the attorney general of the federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami and the Vintage Press Ltd, publishers of the Nation Newspapers.
