Nigeria Content Online

A High court
sitting in Kano has awarded the Kano state Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau,
N1 billion as damages in a defamation suit he filed against a
Lagos-based magazine, Business Eye.

The magazine had
published in its 8th-14th December 2008 edition that Mr Shekarau
operates eight foreign accounts through which he corruptly enriched
himself by engaging in money laundering and inflation of contracts,
particularly the Tambarawa water works project.

In the two hour
judgment, the presiding Justice, Tani Yusuf Hassan, noted that for two
years the defendant failed to provide evidence to support their claims
and tried to frustrate the case by incessant requests for adjournments
and absence from court.

False claims

The judge said the
court had received evidence in the form of letters and authorities from
the relevant authorities in the eight countries in which the magazine
alleged that the Mr Shekarau is operating accounts in foreign banks,
adding that it was established that the banks are either non-existent
or the accounts/account numbers are fictitious.

Mrs Hassan said
even though copies of the letters were given to the defendants, they
refused to retract the article, show remorse or contact the plaintiff
for out of court settlement leading the court to deem that plaintiff’s
(Shekarau’s) image has been damaged.

The evidence before
the court was not challenged or refuted by the defendants despite, been
given all opportunities to present their case before the court.

Making an example

The Judge ordered
the defendants to immediately retract the publication and awarded N300
million as compensation to the governor for the libelous publication in
addition to N700 million as punitive or exemplary damage for the
callous and unrepentant assault on his character, pride and dignity.
The court also awarded additional N50, 000 as the cost of litigation.

She further ordered
the defendants to write a public apology to the plaintiff on the
Business Eye’s website, Economic International magazine, the Guardian
and Thisday Newspapers. It also restrained the defendants, their
servants or privy from further use of the same or similar libelous
words against the plaintiff.

Responding to journalists shortly after the judgment, Mr Shekarau
said “today I have been vindicated, the truth has been established and
this is a milestone judgment. This equally proved that not all Nigerian
government officials are corrupt I give gratitude to Allah”.