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N
2 billion Suit against Champion Newspapers for Definite Hearing 3rd
March
An High court has fixed the 3rd of
March, 2011 for definite hearing, on a case involving Champion
Newspapers, Malachy Uzendu , of Champion Newspapers and , Mr.
Ben-Bright Mkpuma, Northern editor of Financial Standard and
Publishers of Watchdogreporters, an online news magazine, in a case
of defamation of character.
Malachy Uzendu, had in April, 2010, allegedly
defamed Mr. Mkpuma, in a case between Ezza community and Ezza-Ezillo
of Ishielu local government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
Claiming to have spoken to the former
Inspector-general of Police, Mr. Onovo Ogbonna, the Plaintiff wrote
that,”one Mr. Ben Bright Mkpuma, an Abuja-based journalist”,
was “been charged to court for matters connected with the Ebonyi
crises, saying they could not arraigned for their pleas to be taken
because the Federal high court judge sitting in Abuja, before whom
the matter was assigned to, did not sit last Tuesday.”
The Plantiff, Ben-Bright
Mkpuma, who is also the Treasurer of Abuja Council of the Nigerian
Union of Journalists (NUJ) dragged the Newspaper and its reporter,
Mr. Nzendu, to court over what he described as defamation on his
personality. The Plaintiff is asking for a whooping N2 billion from
the defendants.
According to Malachy’s story of April 1, 2010, ”Onovo who spoke
in a telephone interview explained that though his men were ambushed
and killed by some hoodlums operating in the disputed area, "I have
instructed the Commissioner of Police to immediately send
reinforcement to the area and rid the place of hoodlums and other
undesirables operating in the area".
“He noted that some leaders of the disputed area, including one
Mr. Ben Bright Mkpuma, an Abuja-based journalist, have been charged
to court for matters connected with the Ebonyi crises, saying they
could not arraigned for their pleas to be taken because the Federal
high court judge sitting in Abuja, before whom the matter was
assigned to, did not sit last Tuesday”.
Barr. Esther Uzoma, a
counsel to the Plaintiff had argued in of the hearing before Hon.
Justice A.S Umar that the defendant’s action was carried against her
client (Ben-Bright) out of malice, bearing in mind that Mr. Malachy
has various court cases pending against some members of the NUJ.
She noted that the defendants have not deemed it fit to tender an
apology to his client after writing the alleged defamatory story.
She further observed that
the “when some of the plaintiff’s colleagues gathered at the NUJ
Abuja Press Council, the treated the plaintiff with reservation and
called him derogatory names; and that the Inspector-general of
Police never issued any press statement in regard of the Ebonyi
crisis where in the plaintiff was said to be a culprit and the
Nigerian Police after investigation did not charge the plaintiff to
court; that the 2nd only wanted to use the medium of the
1st defendant to further an existing bad faith he has for
the plaintiff.
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