The minister of petroleum resources,
Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been sued by an Abuja-based media consultant
and former newspaper editor, Simon Imobo-Tswam, for libel, mischief and
the unauthorized use of his name, phone number and platform for image-laundering.
Diezani
Alison-Madueke
The lawsuit was filed at
a High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Imobo-Tswam is seeking N1
billion from the minister as “general and
compensatory damages.”
According to Sahara Reporters, the plaintiff said Alison-Madueke
and her media agents illegally used his name, his mobile telephone number and
the official letterhead of his group, Network of Progressive Activists (NPA),
to launch a media attack against the former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
The plaintiff added that the minister and her hirelings
exploited his name and group in defending the minister’s alleged questionable
spending of N10 billion to charter jets.
Apart from the petroleum minister, other defendants are Michael
Mukwuzi, Timothy Ademola, This Day newspaper’s Tokunbo Adedoja, Vanguard
newspaper’s Chioma Gabriel, and Anozie Egole.
The plaintiff, who is represented by Chris Alashi
of Fair-Fields Solicitors and Advocates, has urged Justice M.M. Kolo to
award N1 billion and interest on damages awarded at the rate of 18% per annum
on the judgment sum awarded.
Imobo-Tswam added that he wants the defendants to apologize to
him, with the apology published in the Vanguard and This Day newspapers.
The lawsuit
with No. CV/1679/15 claims that the defendants “maliciously, malevolently, mischievously and wickedly
ascribed/attributed to the plaintiff” opinions that “embarrassed, injured and devastatingly damaged the
Plaintiff, and cast him in bad light before well-meaning members of the public
and most particularly patriotic Nigerians.”
The lawsuit accuses the minister and her agents of using the
plaintiff’s name without his authorization, as the author of an advertorial
that attacked Obasanjo following a political feud between the former president
and President Jonathan. According to the plaintiff, he had rejected an offer to
speak against Obasanjo on a programme at AIT as well as to represent himself as
the author of an anti-Obasanjo piece.
Imobo-Tswam alleged that despite his refusal to attack Obasanjo,
Mukwuzi and Ademola affixed his name as the author of a scurrilous piece that
was published in several Nigerian newspapers.
The plaintiff also asserts that he was approached again to use
his name and platform to defend Alison-Madueke after the minister was accused
of recklessly squandering more than N10 billion of public funds
on chartered jets.
The lawsuit stated that
despite the plaintiff’s refusal to lend his name or that of his platform to the
defence of the minister, the defendants went ahead to write an advertorial
titled “The Unveiling
of Operation Destroy Diezani,”giving the impression
that he had authored it. It was subsequently published in several Nigerian
newspapers on March 26, 2014. The publication used the plaintiff’s platform’s
letterhead, e-mail address and personal phone number.
The lawsuit asserts that Imobo-Tswam has suffered great harm
since the action by the minister.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the lawsuit.
Meanwhile the
controversial minister of petroleum resources has rejected plans to
leave the country to avoid supposed corruption accusations under
the incoming All Progressives Congress administration.
The minister also dismissed speculation that she had met with
the former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar, to arrange a “soft landing”
from the in-coming government.
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