N1bn Libel Suit : Court orders NBTE boss, Bugaje, to open defence

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja, on Monday, ordered the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education( NBTE), Idris Bugaje, to open his defence in a N1 billion defamation suit brought against him and the Kaduna Polytechnic.

The judge, Hamza Mu’azu, gave the order, on Monday, after the plaintiff, Bilkisu Sannusi, of the Budget Office of the Federation, concluded her testimony.

Mrs Sannusi sued Mr Bugaje, a professor and former Rector of the Kaduna Polytechnic, and its current rector over their alleged defamatory publication against her person.

According to the plaintiff in the suit marked: FCT/HC/CV/2021, the defendants maliciously described her as “incompetent and corrupt” in a publication dated April 15, 2019.

She stated that the publication was made and circulated as a “vendetta” against her.

Mrs Sannusi, while testifying on Monday, adopted her witness deposition.

She detailed how the defendants allegedly defamed her in a document said to have been authored and circulated by Mr Bugaje.

Mrs Sannusi’s lawyer, Martins Opara, who led her in evidence, also tendered some documents through the witness.

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Mrs Sannusi stated that her salary had been stopped for about a year now since she elected to sue the defendants and prayed the court to grant all her reliefs, including the N1 billion damages she claimed against the defendants.

The plaintiff was later cross-examined by a lawyer for the defendant, Kamarudeen Umar, who also objected to the tendering of some of the documents.

However, the judge, Mr Mu’azu, at the end of the plaintiff’s testimony, ordered the first defendant (Bugaje) to open his defence on the next date and adjourned the suit until June, 28.