Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja from
16 July 2003 to 29 May 2007 Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai yesterday, dragged the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa
Metuh to court following allegation that he has links with the Boko Haram sect.
In the libel suit he filed before an Abuja high court
sitting at Gudu, El-Rufai, insisted that the defendants should be compelled to
pay him the sum of N1.5billion for tarnishing his public image via a press
statement that alleged that both himself and the All Progressive Congress, APC,
are connected to the Boko Haram insurgents.
He told the court that Metuh, in another publication that
was sponsored by the PDP, alleged that he (El-Rufai) collected N5bn as
consultancy fee from the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,
Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Metuh was said to have made the claims in the March 17 and
23 editions of This Day Newspaper.
In the suit dated April 2, 2014, El-Rufai, equally joined
the newspaper as the third defendant in the matter.
The former minister insisted that the publications greatly
damaged his reputation and occassioned an irreparable damage to his hard-earned
public image by portraying him as a corrupt, money laundering, reckless,
lawless, greedy and unscrupulous public figure.
He maintained that the publications were “in furtherance of
the defendants’ campaign of calumny” against him.
Meantime, Justice Abubakar Talba has adjourned the case to
June 5 for mention, even as he ordered service of the court processes on all
the defendants.
Specifically, the plaintiff is seeking an order awarding
N1bn as general damages against Metuh and PDP.
He is further asking for another order awarding additional
N500m as general damages jointly and severally against all the three
defendants.
Moreso, the ex-Minister, is urging the court to award cost
in his favour for “the injury, embarrassment and distress suffered by the
plaintiff in respect of the loss of reputation and goodwill as a result of the
malicious, unwarranted and defamatory utterance against the person of the
plaintiff.”
He prayed for an order declaring that he was “deservingly
entitled to a written apology from the defendants, published with the same
prominence as the offending publications”.
More so, he wants the court to give an order of perpetual
injunction restraining the defendants from further defaming him.
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