Former FCT Minister and Deputy National Secretary to All Progressive Congress, APC, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has instituted a N1.5billion libel suit against the PDP, its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh and ThisDay newspaper before a High Court in Abuja over statements he said were authorized by Metuh on behalf of the PDP linking him to the Boko Haram insurgency, which he finds defamatory.
El Rufai said the defamatory statements were published in Thisday newspaper which he joined in the suit as third defendant.
Mallam El-Rufai said that in a separate Thisday newspaper publications of March 17 and March 28, Metuh claimed that he (El-Rufai) collected N5billion as consultancy fee from the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi and also in another publication said that himself and Gen. Buhari know more about the Boko Haram insurgency. He quoted one of the publications as saying,
“specifically, PDP cited the instance of an APC chieftain, ostensibly the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nasir El-Rufai, who collected N5billion for consultancy fees provided to the Central Bank and another N1.5billion diverted to APC to enable it open offices across the federation”.
The former minister also quoted the publication of March 23 as being “boldly captioned as, ‘In a daring move, PDP says Buhari, el-Rufai, know more about B’Haram’”.
The former minister claimed that the publications caused him irreparable injury and damaged his hard-earned reputation.
He is specifically seeking an order awarding N1billion as general damages against Metuh and PDP.
He is also seeking another order awarding additional N500 million as general damages jointly and severally against all the three defendants, including ThisDay newspaper.
El-Rufai is also seeking the award for “the injury, embarrassment and distress suffered 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 also seeks for a written apology be made published in the same medium as the defamatory statements.
The ex-minister equally wants the court to give an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from further defaming him.
The case has been adjourned till June 5 for mention before Justice Abubakar Talba.
Source: The Nation
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