In a novel civil litigation that is bound to test the ability of a US citizen to sue Nigerian-based defendants, Patrick O’ Keke has brought a Nigerian bank-Skye Bank, a Lagos-based newspaper, “The Nation”, and ten “John and Jane Does” to a US court over allegations of breach of contract, interference with contractual relationship, and harassment. According to the court documents, obtained by Saharareporters, the suit claims stated that on October 30, 2009 Mr. O’Keke signed a contract for the purchase of an advertisement to be printed in the November 2, 2009 issue of “The Nation” for the price of N253, 000.
The advertisement space was to be used for a rejoinder denouncing civil rights abuses in Nigeria, namely incidences wherein the corporate banks prostitute their female workers in order to secure powerful clientele. After hearing about a specific case in the Nigerian High Court, where Skye Bank was accused of encouraging a female employee to use her feminine appeal to bait potential wealthy patrons, O’Keke further researched the issue and found it to be widespread. It is in response to this practice of using prostitution to gain new accounts that O’Keke drafted the rejoinder. It is also a response to ads that Skye published on two accounts, slandering the plaintiff in the Nigerian trial and her family. O’Keke felt it was his place as an attorney and a believer in equal rights for women to write the rejoinder. Similar ads criticizing this practice of prostitution were to be printed in The Nation in the coming months at a discounted price.
Upon hearing of the impending rejoinder, Skye bank allegedly offered The Nation a sum of money to refrain from publishing the piece. Skye also contacted many other newspapers and publications and paid them to refuse to publish the rejoinder. John Doe and Jane Doe 1-10 are also suspected to have been hired to threaten the life of Mr. O’Keke if he did not cease attempts to publish the rejoinder, and also to indicate to Mr. O’Keke the power that Skye holds over courts and publications in Nigeria, should they choose to wield it. When the advert condemning Skye and other Nigerian banks did not run in The Nation, O’Keke contacted the paper and was told that Skye had paid a large sum for it to not be printed.
O’Keke seeks compensatory and punitive damages for financial and emotional distress after having his life threatened repeatedly and as a result, having to continually change his travel and living arrangements. Further incentive for O’Keke to file a suit arose because in the failure of the rejoinder being published, women all over Nigeria were refused an opportunity for an audience of millions to be made aware of Skye’s civil rights violations.
Because O’Keke is a citizen of the United States and the monetary sum of the allegations exceeds $75,000, the suit has been brought to the United States District Court rather than the Nigerian Court. Jurisdiction has also been invoked under the Aliens Tort Statute, which allows cases of human rights abuses brought by foreign citizens to be tried in United States courts, even if the abuses took place abroad.
Case information:
U.S. District Court
Brooklyn Office
Filed: Dec. 14, 2009
Case #: CV 09-5455
Plaintiff: Patrick O’Keke
Defendants: Skye Bank, The Nation, and John and Jane Doe 1-10
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