According to Sowore, the suit, instituted with what he described as “much pomp and pageantry” in 2017, was formally struck out after Suleman abandoned the case.
A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has struck out the 2017 defamation lawsuit filed by the General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Apostle Johnson Suleman, against activist and SaharaReporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, and Canada-based woman, Stephanie Otobo, over alleged lack of diligent prosecution.
Sowore disclosed this development on Tuesday, citing information received from Barrister Oluwafemi Olabisi, the lawyer who prosecuted the case pro bono.
According to Sowore, the suit, instituted with what he described as “much pomp and pageantry” in 2017, was formally struck out after Suleman allegedly abandoned the case.
“It is important to share with the public that after @Apostle Johnson Suleman sued in 2017 with much pomp and pageantry against me and his estranged Canada-based mistress, Stephanie Otobo, he subsequently abandoned the case,” Sowore stated.
“Today I was informed by Barrister Oluwafemi Olabisi the attorney who graciously prosecuted this case pro bono, that the suit has now been formally struck out by a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja for lack of diligent prosecution.”
Sowore further noted that the struck-out Lagos case is separate from a more recent lawsuit filed by the cleric in Benin City, Edo State, which he described as “already following the same trajectory” and may ultimately suffer a similar fate.
The Ikeja suit, marked ID/ADR/347/2017, was filed at the height of a media storm triggered by allegations made by Otobo, who accused Suleman of impregnating and abandoning her.
The cleric has consistently denied the allegations.
In the suit, Apostle Suleman demanded N1 billion in damages each from SaharaReporters and Stephanie Otobo for what he described as grave injury to his reputation and character. SaharaReporters was the first media outlet to publish reports and interviews relating to Otobo’s allegations, drawing national and international attention.
At the time, Suleman retained a legal team comprising Chief Efe Akpofure (SAN), Erhabour O.I, Victor Idiapho, and Emmanuel Usoh.
The lawsuit also followed a controversial visit by Otobo’s mother, Mrs. Tope Otobo, to the church’s headquarters in Auchi, Edo State, where she publicly appealed to the cleric to forgive her daughter.