The court refuses to rehear Obasanjo’s N1bn lawsuit against Punch

Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has dismissed former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s request to re-file a previously dismissed N1bn defamation suit against Punch newspaper.

The judge rejected the request in a ruling she made on April 21, 2024.

Obasanjo had on January 27, 2019, filed a defamation suit seeking the sum of N1 billion in damages against the newspaper and its columnist, Sonala Olumhende, over an article written by Olumhense questioning Obasanjo’s account of Nigerian history .

The court had on October 19, 2023, dismissed Obasanjo’s suit, marked FCT/HC/CV/962/2019, for misrepresentation.

Justice Osho-Adebiyi had also imposed the sum of N4m in favor of the two defendants (Punch Newspaper and Olumhense) against Obasanjo over the defamation suit, stating that: “I currently award the sum of N2m only to each of the first and second defendants as costs of this action.”

But the former President, in a notice motion, had asked the court for an order to rehear case No. FCT/HC/CV/962/2019, saying it was wrongly dismissed by the court due to a misrepresentation by counsel.

Justice Osho-Adebiyi in her judgment said: “The case does not fall into the category where a dismissed case can be re-filed after a notice of termination is filed at the end of the plea.

“The applicant in this lawsuit cannot come through the back door to seek another opportunity to downgrade this lawsuit. Merely stating that counsel simply misrepresented the facts would not be sufficient for the court to reinstate this case.”

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