El-rufai battles pdp in court over boko haram allegation

Former Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-
Rufai, yesterday, dragged the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, and its
National Publicity Secretary, Mr.
Olisa Metuh to court over allegations
linking him with terror group Boko
Haram.
In the libel suit he filed before an
Abuja high court sitting at Gudu, El-
Rufai, insisted that the defendants
should be compelled to pay him the
sum of N1.5 billion for tarnishing his
public image via a press statement
that alleged that both himself and
the All Progressive Congress, APC,
are connected to the Boko Haram
insurgents.
He told the court that Metuh, in
another publication that was
sponsored by the PDP, alleged that he
(El-Rufai) collected N5bn as
consultancy fee from the suspended
governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi.
Metuh was said to have made the
claims in the March 17 and 23
editions of This Day Newspaper.
In the suit dated April 2, 2014, El-
Rufai, equally joined the newspaper as
the third defendant in the matter.
The former minister insisted that
the publications greatly damaged his
reputation and occassioned an
irreparable damage to his hard-
earned public image by portraying him
as a corrupt, money laundering,
reckless, lawless, greedy and
unscrupulous public figure.
He maintained that the publications
were “in furtherance of the
defendants’ campaign of calumny”
against him.
Meantime, Justice Abubakar Talba
has adjourned the case to June 5 for
mention, even as he ordered service
of the court processes on all the
defendants.
Specifically, the plaintiff is seeking
an order awarding N1bn as general
damages against Metuh and PDP.
He is further asking for another
order awarding additional N500m as
general damages jointly and severally
against all the three defendants.
Moreso, the ex-Minister, is urging
the court to award cost in his favour
for “the injury, embarrassment and
distress suffered by the plaintiff 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 prayed for an order declaring
that he was “deservingly entitled to
a written apology from the
defendants, published with the same
prominence as the offending
publications”.
More so, he wants the court to give
an order of perpetual injunction
restraining the defendants from
further defaming him.