The President of the Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN) Andy Amenechi and the President of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Zik Zulu Okafor have filed a
In the suit No
LD/ADR/440/13, the lawyer to the Claimants, Anthony Emeka Odikpo, is praying
the court to grant his clients N150
million as damages for libel.
According to Odikpo, the
defendant, Eyengho, on or about August 19, 2013, “maliciously and with intent
to destroy the character of the claimants” published false words about the
claimants in a petition to the Police Special Fraud Unit, Milverton Road,
Ikoyi, where he categorically accused them of squandering the N50 million grant given to the industry by
Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio.
The counsel to the claimants
without mincing words tells Eyengho, “it is unfortunate that you have taken
your petulance to this ridiculous dimension of assassinating the character of
our clients to all and sundry. It is equally unfortunate that you ensured that
this your scurrilous publication went viral by sending it to all manner of
internet blogs. You have finally reached the nadir by ensuring that the self
same missive is published in Vanguard Newspaper of August 31, 2013. These your
actions have caused our clients considerable distress as all manner of
inquiries have been streaming in from across the globe. The reputations built
by our clients through the years have been besmeared by you”.
The counsel warned that the
totality of Eyengho’s publication in its ordinary and natural meaning inputs
criminality to the persons of the claimants and has thus brought them to public
scandal, hatred, odium and contempt. Said he, “The defendant published the said
words out of malevolence and spite and ensured that the publication received
the widest possible coverage”. This is why, he says, “the defendant should be
made to pay aggravated or exemplary damages to the claimants.
The fiery counsel however
gave the defendant a leeway to issue a retraction of his spurious allegations
within five days from September 9, 2013 and to commence immediate negotiations
with the claimants’ lawyers on payment of damages.
The failure to take the
window of opportunity according to Odikpo is the option of N150 million claim as damages against the defendant, plus an order
of perpetual injunction restraining the Defendant by himself or by his
servants, agents and privies from further publication of the said defamatory or
similar words.
The counsel described his
clients, Amenechi and Okafor as credible professionals with untrammelled
integrity; movie practitioners who have given so much to Nollywood that they
deserve to be revered rather than being maligned or subjected to infamy by
people like the defendant, Mr. Eyengho.
As he put it, “the likes of
Mr. Eyengho must be brought to face the full force of the law to serve as a
deterrent to some other frivolous characters that do not weigh the gravity of
their statements against other people”. In his words, “this is one case we must
follow to a logical conclusion. We will not shirk our responsibility to our clients,
we will be meticulous in discharging our duty and we will be firm and unshaking
in the pursuit of justice for our clients unless of course Mr. Eyengho realises
his grave error of judgement, makes a retraction on the media and begins
serious negotiations with the claimants on damages to be paid, “Anything short
of that, we shall meet in court and this case will go down in Nollywood’s
history as one prosecuted with utmost efficiency and precision”, he concluded.
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