The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Jabi, Abuja, on Tuesday re-scheduled the hearing of former Imo East Senator Chris Anyanwu’s N550 million defamation suit against former Imo State Governor Ikedi Ohakim.
Judge M.I. Sani postponed hearing till Thursday due to Mr Ohakim’s lawyer’s absence from Tuesday’s proceedings.
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Mrs Anyanwu, 73, filed the suit against Mr Ohakim over a remark the former governor made about her in an interview he gave The Nation newspaper. The interview was published on 12 January.
She sued The Nation’s publisher and parent company, Vintage Press Ltd., as a co-defendant.
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The case was first mentioned in court on 6 May and was subsequently slated for commencement of trial on Tuesday, 17 June.
At Tuesday’s hearing, a representative of Mr Ohakim’s lawyer, U.C. Njemanze-Aku, informed the court that her principal, Ken Njemanze, was unavoidably absent due to ill health and requested a short adjournment.
But, the claimant’s lawyer, Adekunle Kosoko, objected to the motion for adjournment. He said adjourning the case would mean additional costs to bring the claimant’s witnesses to court, one of whom, he said, travelled all the way from Lagos to appear for the case on Tuesday.
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Mr Kosoko also noted that the defence had received the witnesses’ depositions over a month, which he said was enogh period for adequate preparation for the defence to proceed with the cross-examination of the witnesses.
In his comments, the judge said Ms Njemanze-Aku was competent to conduct the trial and the cross-examination, warning that he would not tolerate unnecessary delays in this case.
Responding, Ms Njemanze-Aku said her principal was set to be in court but for her sudden ailment.
She then changed course, agreeing that trial could proced but with condition that cross-examiniation of the witness be deferred till her principal’s return.
Unimpressed by the concession, Mrs Anyanwu’s lawyer requested the court to award costs against the defendant, to mitigate the expenses incurred in the upkeep and transportation of the witnesses.
After listening to the lawyers, the judge opted to adjourn the case till Thursday (19 June) without awarding any cost.
He also ordered the plaintiff’s lawyer to serve hearing notice on the second defendant, Vintage Press Ltd., The Nation newspaper publisher, which was not represented at Wednesday’s proceedings.
Background
Mrs Anyanwu, who represented Imo East senatorial district in Nigeria’s Senate from 2007 to 2015, filed a defamation suit against Mr Ohakim, following an interview the former governor granted The Nation Newspaper, which was published on 12 January.
Mr Ohakim accused the ex-senator of falsehood, particularly failing to mention in her book, “Bold Leap”, that she had apologised to the late military Head of State, Sani Abacha.
Mrs Anyanwu, a journalist turned politician, was arrested in 1995 for being an “accessory after the fact of treason”, following her reporting on a failed coup d’état against the government of Sani Abacha, whom she had refused to endorse as president.
Mrs Anyanwu was prosecuted behind camera by a military court and sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 July 1995. The sentence was later reduced to 15 years in October 1995 following pressure from national and international human rights groups. She was released by the regime of Abubakar Abdusalami, who took office as the Head of State after Mr Abacha died in 1998.
Incensed by Mr Ohakim’s remarks suggesting that she apologised to the late Abacha, Mrs Anyanwu dared the former governor to publish the apology letter she had written to the late military head of state.
She subsequently filed a defamation suit seeking N550 million in damages for Mr Ohakim’s alleged defamation in the interview and a press statement released by the former Governor’s aide, Amanze Ajoku.
But Mr Ohakim justified his comment in the defence he filed against the suit. While admitting making the comments, he justified them as fair. He also declared his intention to publish in his forthcoming book the apology letter Mrs Anyanwu purpportedly sent to the late military Head of State, Mr Abacha.
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But for its part, The Nation newspaper conceded making an error publishing the interview.
The newspaper has since published a retraction of the interview and an apology to Mrs Anyanwu.
It notified the court of this development in its filing submitted to the court on 1 June.
“In the light of this, we have taken prompt steps to retract the publication across all our digital and print platforms. Furthermore, we have issued a retraction and a public apology in our May 18, 2025, edition of The Sunday Nation newspaper in order to correct the record and ensure our readers are properly informed,” the newspaper wrote.
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