BAYELSA FAMILY FILES ₦2BILLION SUIT AGAINST NIGERIAN OBSERVER FOR INTERNET DEFAMATION IN ABUJA COURT

The online newspaper version of the Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL), the Nigerian Observer News with the online identification: nigerianobsevernews.com has been sued ₦2Billion in damages for online defamation (libel) by a family from Anyama in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The family lawyer, Nnamdi Ebo, Esq., had earlier in November 2021 emailed a cease and desist letter to the online publishers demanding a retraction and pull down of the offensive online statements.

The Bayelsa family was startled by an online publication with the caption: CURBING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE SOCIETY which claimed that Mrs. Daisy Egirani the wife of one of the matriarch’s sons, who died last year told the online news platform that she was tortured and physically abused by the Egirani Family. According to the online report, she has a 12 year old daughter, and after the death of her husband, her husband’s elder brothers and uncle told her that her daughter and only child must follow tradition, that is to get married at the tender age of twelve (12) years because she is not a male child; also, the mother, Daisy, must get married to the husband’s eldest brother because she did not bear him a male child.

According to verified reports from Abuja, the nation’s capital, the online defamation suit no. FCT/HC/CV/977/2022 with ₦2Billion in damages was filed on the 24th of March, 2022 at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja by the family lawyer, Nnamdi Ebo, Esq.

Reports say the family in the lawsuit sued four defendants: the Nigerian Observer Online Edition, nigerianobservernews.com; Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL) the parent company owned by the Edo State Government; two journalists of the publishers who wrote the offensive article as an opinion piece, Monday Oise; and Osaretin Glory Aisosa.

The suit has been slated for hearing on June 6, 2022 at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja court 32 sitting at Apo a judicial district of the nation’s capital.

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