Dokpesi had alleged that Information Minister and the Attorney-General defamed his character by the inclusion of his name on the treasury looters’ list.
The FCT High Court in Apo has adjourned the N5 billion defamation suit filed against Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture and Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice by Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman and Executive Director of DAAR Communications.
On Monday, when the matter came up, Justice Adegboyega Adeniyi adjourned until October 23, following the request by Dokpesi’s lawyer to respond to the preliminary objection filed by the defendants.
Dokpesi had alleged that Information Minister and the Attorney-General defamed his character by the inclusion of his name on the treasury looters’ list.
The plaintiff had told the court that the Information Minister had on March 30, during a press conference, portrayed him as “a corrupt and crooked person, a dishonest man and a thief".
Dokpesi, through his counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), told the court that the minister’s action negatively affected his reputation and that his image had been seriously injured.
The plaintiff said he had suffered considerable distress, odium, obloquy, and ridicule in political analyses in the media.
He further asked the court to order the defendants to tender an unreserved apology to him in all the major electronic and print media outlets in the country.
He further urged the court to grant a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their servants, agents, partners, representatives, from further writing, publishing defamatory words about the plaintiff.