The Kogi State Excessive Court docket has awarded N1 billion in damages to former Yahaya Bello in a defamation go well with towards Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District.
Delivering judgment in go well with No. HCL/16/2023, the court docket resolved all points for willpower in favour of Bello, holding that the claimant efficiently proved his case on the steadiness of possibilities.
The court docket dominated that an interview granted by Akpoti-Uduaghan on November 4, 2022, throughout The Morning Present, aired on Come up TV, was defamatory and damaging to Bello’s status.
In keeping with the court docket, the senator’s description of Bello as a “assassin,” “killer,” and “perpetrator of evil acts” was unjustified and constituted a violation of his character.
Consequently, the court docket issued a perpetual injunction restraining the senator, her brokers, or associates from making additional defamatory statements towards Bello on any broadcast platform.
Along with the injunction, the court docket awarded N1 billion in damages in favour of the previous governor.
The go well with, filed in 2023, initially confronted a jurisdictional problem by the defence, which argued that the case amounted to an abuse of court docket course of.
Nonetheless, Bello’s counsel maintained that associated issues earlier than the FCT Excessive Court docket didn’t contain the claimant straight.
The Excessive Court docket upheld its jurisdiction, a call later affirmed by the Court docket of Attraction of Nigeria in attraction No. CA/ABJ/CV/626/2024, which dismissed the senator’s attraction for missing benefit.