A State High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on 11 April, awarded N5 million as damages against a radio talk show host in a libel suit filed by a former official of the Akwa Ibom State Government.
The talk show host, Mathew Okono, popularly known as Citizen MKO, is to pay the money to Elijah Akpan, a former chairperson of the Akwa Ibom State Investment Corporation (AKICORP), a state government agency focused on promoting investments, entrepreneurship and industrial development.
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Mr Okono is to pay the money through his company, Matascovy Supply Services, as punitive damages for a malicious publication against Mr Akpan.
Mr Akpan sued Mr Okono over a 29 May 2020 publication in a Uyo-based Post newspaper, alleging that the official was involved in a contract scam.
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Mr Okono is said to have made another publication in the same newspaper on 5 June 2020, with the headline “AKICORP Chairperson in alleged contract scam – may soon be invited by anti-corruption agencies”.
Mr Akpan was the chairperson of the agency under the administration of former Governor Udom Emmanuel.
‘Alleged contract scam’
Mr Okono told PREMIUM TIMES that he used his company, Matascovy Supply Services, to obtain a N4.1 million loan to execute a job for AKICORP in October 2015, but that Mr Akpan, who was then the chairperson of the agency, “refused” to pay him the money in full, leading to the accumulation of interest on the loan.
He said Mr Akpan also refused to issue him a job order, a document that authorises a worker or shop to perform specific work or a service, detailing the scope, requirements, and often the price or duration of the task.
Mr Okono confirmed the court ruling but denied that he authorised the publication.
He further said that the publication was against AKICORP, and not Mr Akpan as a person, and wondered why Mr Akpan sued his company.
He told PREMIUM TIMES that he had applied for a stay of execution and a certified true copy of the judgement to enable him to file an appeal.
He said the court delivered the judgement on 11 April, but that he had yet to be issued with the court’s certified true copy to facilitate an appeal.
Mr Okono told our reporter that the court was demanding N700,000 for the certified true copy of the judgement.
Ex-official speaks on post-judgement issues
Speaking through his lawyer, Anthony Ebuk, Mr Akpan dismissed Mr Okono’s claim that he collected a loan of N4.1 million to execute a job for AKICORP.
“This has been the lies he peddled in an effort to extort money from AKICORP,” the lawyer, Mr Ebuk, told PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, 3 August.
“For a contract whose initial award value was about N2million, how could he take a loan of that value?”
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Mr Ebuk said AKICORP’s independent committee set up to resolve Mr Okono’s complaint presented a report which showed that he was fully paid for the job he did.
“He then resorted to claims of a phantom loan. He was never able to show evidence that he took any loan to execute the job, either at the Special Committee or at the Court.
“When asked about the name of the bank and evidence of receipt of the loan, he said it was a private loan, with no evidence of drawdown.
“How does a contractor take private loans to carry on a contract he has been paid mobilisation? How would that contractor put the liability on the company, which never approved of any loan?”
Mr Ebuk said the issuance of job orders, as mentioned by Mr Okono, was not part of the job description of the chairperson of AKICORP’s board.
PREMIUM TIMES asked Mr Ebuk to respond to Mr Okono’s claim that the publication was against AKICORP, and not Mr Akpan as a person.
“The publications were tendered in court, and the name of Dr Elijah Akpan was very prominent in all the publications.
“The court even asked him if he knew that Elijah Akpan is different from AKICORP (and) that it was not Elijah Akpan that awarded the contract to him,” the lawyer said.
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