Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has instituted a N20 billion libel suit against the Spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force, Mr Olumuyiwa Adejobi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP.
The suit was filed Tuesday – today, January 28 – at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, by Kanu’s lead Counsel, Barr. Aloy Ejimakor, on behalf of the IPOB leader.
According to the suit, Kanu accused the Police image maker of defaming and portraying him as a terrorist leader following media publications of a press statement issued by Adejobi on January 25 where he described IPOB as “a proscribed terrorist organisation”.
The viral publication titled, “Imo: Police neutralise six IPOB/ESN terrorists, recover arms: further read:”Operatives of the Imo Police Command’s tactical unit have neutralised three notorious kingpins of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), an armed wing of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).”
A copy of the suit further read: “The Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, ACP Olummiwa Adejobi, disclosed in a statement made available to newsmen on Saturday in Owerri.
“Adejobi said following credible intelligence, the police operatives located and launched a coordinated operation on the terrorists’ hideout in a forest within Ihube in Okigwe Local Government Area of the state on January 24.
“The Force PRO said five AK-47 rifles, 552 rounds of live ammunition, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), several communication equipment, along eight operational motorcycles used by the group, were recovered from the scene.
“According to him, prior investigations had revealed the involvement of the group in several high-profile crimes, including the attack on the Owerri Correctional Centre on April 5, 2021.
Adejobi further hinted that the neutralised terrorists were involved in the killing of five policemen in Umunna, Okigwe, on December 2022, and the burning of Arondizuogu Police Station on February 8, 2022.”
Meanwhile, Kanu in his suit, averred that “the defamatory statements read by his brother and circle of friends in Abuja and Nigeria at large were false and constitute a grave libel on his person, as the words in their natural and ordinary meaning portrayed” him “as a leader of a violent and terrorist group.”
The IPoB leader further claimed that the statement also portrayed him in the following light: “as an associate of violent criminals and terrorists who allegedly engaged in terrorist acts in Imo State; an irresponsible and violent person that has no regard for the sanctity of human lives; and a person who does not deserve justice in his cases pending in court, bordering on whether the IPOB is a terrorist group or not.
Kanu further claimed that: “The said words in their natural and ordinary meaning were meant and were understood to mean that the Claimant is a leader of a terrorist movement that is to be vicariously blamed for alleged acts of terrorism in Imo State”.
Other claims by the IPoB leader include: “That the words were meant to call into question the Claimant’s honesty, personal integrity and reputation; that the Claimant states that these defamatory and libellous statements go far beyond fair comment and are malicious and are designed specifically to impugn his person and character and they were made in bad faith.”
The suit further read: “That the Defendant’s libellous publications and utterances were circulated and read by millions of people around the world, particularly in Abuja and Nigeria where the Claimant has many friends, family, colleagues, admirers, mentees, well-wishers and millions of followers and cases pending in court in which terrorism is at issue.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing.
