Judge's death stalls Edo govt's case against Guardian Newspapers

The death of a Judge of the Edo state High court has stalled the hearing of the suit filed by the Edo state government through the Chief of Staff to Governor Godwin Obaseki, Mr Taiwo Akerele against the Guardian Newspapers.

Akerele sued the paper over a publication based on allegations made by the Edo PDP that the state government diverted the Rice and assorted relief materials allotted by the Federal government to Internally displaced persons, IDPs in the state.

Mr Justice Timothy Ukpebor of the Auchi Criminal Division of the state high court reportedly died last week after a brief illness.

The development forced a temporary postponement of hearings by almost all judges in the State.

The High Court number 8 was scheduled to hear the suit on Tuesday June 19 but adjourned till September 2018 after counsels to parties to the suit reached an agreement.

Akerele in his claims before the court is asking it for an order for the newspaper to pay him a total sum of N2,250,000.00.

He is asking for N250million as general and/or exemplary or aggravated damages for libel and another N2.5million as costs.

In addition, Akerele is asking the court for an order so that the newspaper and one other, can publish a “well- worded retracted and apology in a similarly conspicuous manner”.

Besides he is asking for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants by themselves or their agents or privies from publishing or causing to be published the “said or similar words defamatory” of the claimant.

Akerele recently dragged the Guardian Newspaper to court on the footing of what he calls “general and/or exemplary or aggravated damages for libel”.

The suit relates to a report widely published online and in major dailies which the Guardian newspaper published earlier in the year with the title , “Probe of Alleged diversion of relief materials begins in Edo”.

The report echoed the PDP position that about 4,721 bags of rice out of the 6,822 ostensibly approved for the Internally Displaced Persons Camp at Uhogwa in Ovia North East Local Government Area of the state by the Federal Government got missing while in the custody of state officials.

At the time of the allegation was raised by PDP, the state government insisted the items were judiciously disbursed a development which saw the Nigerian Police inviting Chief Dan Orbih, the State chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for questioning.

But it recanted and said that some of the bags of rice and other items like shoes were damaged in storage before they were duly allocated to the IDPs and other orphanage homes in the state.

Media Adviser to the Governor, Mr Crusoe Osagie then said: “The allegation is laughable and completely false and is a design of detractors to smear the image of a performing government”.

He said, “They have tried and failed on all other fronts, now they have stooped lower to a commodity as cheap as rice”