The Sokoto State division of the court of appeal has dismissed a case filed against LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group Limited and it’s reporter for allegedly defaming the former Chairman of the Sokoto State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NIJ) Labaran Lumo Dundaye.
In a unanimous judgement of five judges delivered via zoom, Justice Victoria Nwoye uphold the judgment of the Sokoto State High Court and dismissed the suit filed in 2022.
Dissatisfied with the High Court Judgement, Dundaye, appealed at the appellate court and urged the court to set aside the lower court judgment and grant his prayers.
Dundaye had on February 2016 dragged LEADERSHIP as first defendant and Sokoto State LEADERSHIP Hausa reporter, Sharfaddeen Sidi Umar as second defendent to court demanding 50 million as damages for character defamation and apology to be published in three national newspapers.
The High Court Judge, Malami Umar Dogon-Daji in his judgment held that the plaintiff had failed miserably in presenting strong evidence against which he accused the defendants of.
The judge said that in all the three publications in LEADERSHIP Hausa in 2012 and 2015 relating to NUJ Sokoto election, Labaran failed to present any actual defamation statement.
Justice Dogondaji also held that the plaintiff had failed to present a third piece of evidence to substantiate the allegations of defamation, adding that the plaintiff had convinced the court that instead of the plaintiff’s integrity being squandered, further progress had been made after the publications.
The suit was first heard before Chief Justice Bello Abbas, who stroke out the case in February 2016 after which Dundaye filed another in April 2016.
it will be recalled that the case was started by the former Chief Judge, Abbas who reached judgement stage but could not deliver the judgement before he retired from service and the case reassigned as de novo to Justice Dogondaji.
Speaking with journalists shortly after the judgement, the lawyer for the second defendant Mr Simon Enojo King said the court had made done the right thing by dismissing the case as baseless.
“As far as I am concerned the court delivered a sound judgment based on the case presented before it.”
